“Alright, Carmelo… on this play you’ll back Davis deep into the post and then kick it out to Kyle. No, to Korver, not Lowry. LeBron! I’m counting on you to break-up the lobs from Curry to Blake. Pau, come out and set this screen here to spring Jeff loose in the paint. Yes, you Pau, not Paul...”

Few have ever pondered aloud what schemes Mike Budenholzer might conjure up as the Eastern Conference’s All-Star Game coach. But now that the Atlanta Hawks (25-8) are here, a game and a half ahead of everybody else in the conference, such thoughts are no longer pie-in-the-sky. Western Conference contenders would greatly prefer Tom Thibodeau to be the guy running the East’s top players into the ground for a week, and so they’re quietly pulling for their Los Angeles Clippers (10:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Prime Ticket) to thwart the Hawks’ six-game road winning streak.

Bud’s Bunch has no immediate plans to court any of the league’s finest cola-sneakers-and-videogames salesmen to come join them in the 404. For those local NBA fans obsessed with megastar-quality talent, there is no better way to attract those guys than to have many of them huddled around the gentleman with the Pac-Man-logoed polo shirt holding the clipboard, the reigning Eastern Conference Coach of the Month blowing the whistles during their All-Star workouts. In the meantime, if any locals want these superstars to come to the ATL, they could always invite them over their house to watch what has been, lately, some stellar Hawks basketball.

The most consecutive away-game victories an Atlanta team has ever posted were seven. The initial edition of the Atlanta Hawks went on a seven-game road tear in December 1968-January 1969 before falling short in Philadelphia on a Billy Cunningham jumper with two seconds left. The law firm of Wilkens, Willis, and Wilikins also ran off seven-straight road Ws between November and December 1993, beating the crumbling Celtics in crumbling Boston Garden before finally losing on the second night of a road back-to-back in Madison Square Garden to the eventual conference champs.

To get to seven, Budenholzer hopes to rely once again on the growing leadership and confidence of the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Jeff Teague led the entire conference with 23.7 PPG, including one clutch shot after the next to one-up the Kyrie Irvings and Damian Lillards of the world. Teague also tacked on 8.3 APG and 2.7 SPG, both 2^nd-most in the East for the week, while shooting 54.3% from the field and not turning the ball over once in a seven-quarter stretch. All of that during a week where the Hawks went 3-0 and compelled a lot of people to finally pull up a chair and take notice.

It is likely Chris Paul is watching a lot more game tape of Teague than he planned at the outset of the season. Teague came off the bench during the December 23 meeting at Philips Arena, allowing Dennis Schröder some valuable learning experience against CP3. Schröder was on the floor as the Clippers ran off 17 straight points in five minutes to seize the lead before the end of the first half. Teague entered late in the third quarter, and a ten-point Clipper advantage was flipped into a four-point Hawk lead by the early portion of the fourth. Teague spelled a flustered Schröder again after Paul narrowed Atlanta’s nine-point lead to three, and Jeff and the Hawks’ frontcourt controlled the ball well enough to close the game out. Atlanta had no turnovers in the final seven minutes of the game, a factor that Paul (2.0 SPG, 4^th in NBA) will need to change tonight.

The Clippers (23-11) have won three in a row, albeit not against a Murderer’s Row of opponents (Utah, the Knicks, Philly) during their ridiculous 9-game holiday homestand. Before that, they lost three of their previous four: a Christmas Day win over Golden State being the sole non-blemish, but followed by a 110-98 home loss to Toronto. Fending off rumors of locker-room discord, the Clips need to compile as many impressive victories as they can before going back out on the road, where they’ve lost five straight.

They have the feel of a team where roles are compartmentalized to the max. Everybody knows which guy goes for buckets, who drops the dimes, who’s the sharpshooter, who’s the rebounder, who’s the rim-protector, who’s the wing-stopper, who’s the energy guy off the bench. For a team so effusively praised for its Tinseltown excitement, especially considering the alternative, the Clip Show is pretty predictable.

One guy who could help shake things up for L.A. is Spencer Hawes, who blinded many viewers over the holiday season but could reopen some eyes as a long-range-shooting threat and a supplemental rebounder. The seven-foot backup pivot missed the December game at Atlanta but claims to be feeling better after resting a bruised knee. Hawes (career-low 41.7 FG% and 0.8 O-Rebs per-36; 6.3 PPG, 33.3 3FG%) will need to make a bigger impact as a passer and rebounder if his jumper isn’t falling.

The Hawks have been able to rely on somebody to make big waves off the bench, and unlike the Clippers (hi there, Jamal Crawford), it’s usually a different player from one game to the next. After Thabo Sefolosha stepped up in Portland (season-high 13 points, game-icing four FTs at the end of the game), watch for Mike Scott to be Atlanta’s Man of Mystery tonight. Scott played just under four minutes against the Blazers, going 0-for-3 FGs, and is due for a big game after struggling with his shot for much of the past four contests (32.0 FG%). He’ll get more floor time if he shows more of a presence defensively as well. The last recorded block, and only block, of the season for the 6-foot-8 forward came 22 games ago, against the Wizards in late November.

The Clippers picked their poison in Atlanta, and it was DeMarre Carroll (season-high 25 points, 5-for-6 3FGs, 10 rebounds) as Matt Barnes and the Clippers turned their attention toward Kyle Korver, who went 4-for-7 on threes anyway. Carroll has gone 0-for-9 in his last three games from long-distance and 2-for-18 in the last five, but ought to find his LAX runway clear once again as Korver (3-for-4 3FGs in the second half at Portland) grabs the spotlight at Staples. Kyle had 17 points (3-for-3 3FGs) in L.A. last March, as the Hawks’ furious 4^th quarter rally fell short, losing 109-108.

With their three-point bombing reputation, Atlanta has effectively goaded their opponents to abandon interior shots, trying to keep up with the Hawks instead beyond the arc. That was illustrated in Portland as the Blazers relied on contested threes and mid-range jumpers to try to climb out of the hole. Opponents make an NBA-low 28.0 2FGs against Atlanta on 58.0 two-point attempts per-game (3^rd-fewest in NBA). And while they’re hitting inside-the-arc at an above-average 48.0 2FG%, that value is boosted by putbacks (11.4 opponent O-Rebs per game, 6^th most in NBA) and still pales in comparison to the Hawks’ 51.1 2FG% (4^th best in NBA).

Atlanta won’t find such a cushy interior as they found when they rung up a season-high 64 points-in-the-paint on the hobbled Trail Blazers. At least, not so long as DeAndre Jordan (31.8 D-Reb%, 2^nd in NBA; 2.3 BPG, 3^rd in NBA) has something to say about it. Clippers coach Doc Rivers will do all he can to preserve Jordan (15 points, 11 O-Rebs and 11 D-Rebs at Atlanta in December) for the long haul, because when he gets in foul trouble the defensive options at center (Big Baby Davis, Hawes, Ekpe Udoh) aren’t strong. Los Angeles is 11-3 when Jordan finishes a game with no more than two personal fouls. In Atlanta, the Hawks’ pivotal run against the Clippers began in the third quarter after Jordan was whistled for his third foul.

Lob City really isn’t scoring much inside the perimeter if it isn’t coming from lobs, putbacks, or mid-range shots from Blake Griffin (6.6 FGAs from 16-24 feet, 2^nd only to LaMarcus Aldridge, but just 38.7 FG%). 32.5 percent of their shot attempts are for three, which places them only behind the insanity going on in Houston (41.1% of FGAs for 3-pointers). Paul must find ways to get his bigs (yes, including Jordan) more shots inside the paint. The Clips’ 35.2 PPG in-the-paint are the 3^rd fewest in the NBA, behind only Miami and New York, an unacceptable value given their personnel.

Does Mike Muscala have anything more to prove? While also coming through with the requisite sideline hijinks alongside Kent Bazemore, the Bucknell Beastie Boy is hitting 61.3 FG% in limited action, well above the 42.5% from his rookie year. The 2013 second-rounder’s scoring, offensive rebounding, assist-making and defensive stats have improved on a per-36 basis from last season. His partially-guaranteed contract becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster when the Hawks meet the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Any maneuver from Budenholzer, the acting GM, to release Muscala could be a signal of plans to bring up Adreian Payne full-time, or to make room for some other move for a veteran as other teams waive players and the trading deadline nears. In any case, if Muscala appears at all tonight, expect him to play like a Moose possessed.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3