On Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks found themselves getting oven-toasted like a Quizno’s sub in Denver. To avoid getting refried like beans in Phoenix, the Hawks have to play with purpose from the jump tonight against the Suns (10:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Arizona), the second game of a six-game West Coast road swing.

The Hawks (50-14; 18-5 versus the Western Conference) looked like a team that got caught reading press clippings rather than the scouting reports while prepping for the Nuggets. Rather than the customary adherence to fundamentals, Hawks starters were at turns careless with the basketball, getting beaten off the dribble, slow on rotations, neglecting to box out their man, and thinking more about Denver shooters’ season-long percentages rather than closing out on them.

It’s not as though the Hawks don’t know how to get up after occasionally falling down, however. Atlanta is 4-1 on the season in the following game after they’ve been defeated by double-digit margins. By tightening the screws on defense, they’ve won their last four such contests, holding opponents in the bounceback games to 89.5 PPG on 41.8 FG% and 31.4 3FG%.

Phoenix (34-32) is the final NBA opponent the Hawks have yet to play this season and, like Denver, Atlanta probably could have picked a more ideal time to visit. The Suns are merely hovering around the bottom of the Western Conference postseason race. They’re winning just enough games to pounce in case both New Orleans (2.5 games ahead in the standings) and Oklahoma City (2 games ahead) falter down the stretch.

Jeff Hornacek’s crew has notched as many victories against the East (17-10) as they have against the West (17-22), although they haven’t defeated an Eastern team with a winning record since January 30. The two games they have remaining against the Hawks, and one on Sunday at home against the Knicks, are Phoenix’s last chances to feast on the East.

The dust has settled since the publicly-aired kerfuffle that sent franchise face Goran Dragic packing for Miami. The Dragon chose to publicly declare he was All for One, seeking to break up the Musketeer backcourt outfit that was crimping his ball-dominant playmaking style. Dragic and fellow point guards Isaiah Thomas and Tyler Ennis, plus backup big man Miles Plumlee, were all shipped out at the February trading deadline.

In their places came Brandon Knight, the Milwaukee guard who performed on the periphery of the All-Star Game under Jason Kidd, former Brooklyn guard Marcus Thornton, Miami veteran Danny Granger, and three future first-rounders beginning in 2016. Thornton logged 14 points and four boards in his best game in a Suns jersey as the Suns beat visiting Minnesota on Wednesday night.

Phoenix now has some more flexibility going into the summer, and one of the biggest price tags coming off the books belongs to former Hawk Josh Childress, who got amnestied years ago. Several players, including Thornton, don’t mind playing to earn a spot on the roster here next season. A restricted free agent this summer, Knight is doing all he can to boost his value, but sprained his ankle during Monday’s home loss to Stephen Curry and the Warriors and won’t dress for tonight’s action.

With Point Guard Survivor winner Eric Bledsoe (16.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 6.5 APG, 48.2 FG%) the sole experienced playmaker on the roster, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer may be more inclined to rest Dennis Schröder, who has been upgraded to probable following a sprained ankle suffered during the drubbing in Denver. To help with depth at the 1-spot, Phoenix nabbed Steph’s little brother, D-League warrior Seth Curry, who’s averaged 22.8 PPG in Erie (48.2 3FG%) but has not been reliable this season as a passer (3.8 APG, 2.9 TOs/game).

The probability of ballhandling goofs remains high for the Suns (16.8 TOs per 100 possessions in March, 3^rd most in NBA). Jeff Teague (29 points on 14-for-21 FGs, 9 assists and 2 steals @ PHX last season) and the Hawks’ bigs need to spring traps on Bledsoe, rotating and recovering quickly when the ploys don’t result in turnovers.

Even if Shelvin Mack gets the lion’s share of Schröder’s floortime, Atlanta (league-high 19.6 assists per 100 possessions in March) should display a more cohesive passing offense than Phoenix (14.9 assists per-100 in March, 3^rd fewest in NBA). Atlanta followed up an NBA-season-high 42 assists versus Sacramento with just 18 at Denver on Wednesday, bench players helping the Hawks avoid a season-low tally late in the game. The Hawks have lost the last five games when they failed to amass more than 20 assists.

Knight’s assonant teammate, center Brandan Wright (team-high 108.2 offensive rating; 67.7 TS%, 3^rd in NBA), was acquired in January from Boston for a first-round pick that is top-12 protected both this year and next. While Phoenix sits at #13 in the lottery standings, because of the dour situation in the East, the Suns fully expect to part with that pick this June, whether they make the playoffs or not. It’s been a little disconcerting that the former Mavs sixth-man and offense-heavy big man hasn’t done enough to earn a spot in the starting lineup. But the future draft picks obtained in February should more than offset any disappointment with what was sacrificed for Wright.

One other part of the passive approach to Phoenix’s postseason push involves the Sword of Damocles that hovers above twin forwards Markieff and Marcus Morris, each of whom surprisingly received four-year contract extensions in the offseason. The pair remains persons of interest in an investigation into an assault outside a Phoenix gym back in January, and there’s little desire from the Suns to risk bad news hitting them in the middle of a playoff series. In the meantime, it’s been the Morrii who have been doing the accusing in the Valley of the Sun.

Last month, both Keef and Mook chastised the Suns fans for being dispassionate at home games. “No, they don’t boo,” said Markieff (I think), native of the town where Santa Claus has to bring it just to avoid getting pelted with batteries. “They (Suns fans) don’t care that much neither. I don’t think that’s fair to us, putting our heart and soul out there trying to get in the playoffs for this organization and this city, to try and bring this city back to where it was, to get this type of treatment.”

“We didn’t have no energy, building wasn’t energetic,” assessed brother Marcus (I think), following the team’s listless home loss to San Antonio, seemingly more preoccupied with the action off the court. “I saw more Spurs jerseys than Suns jerseys… We can’t blame them for the loss, but if they can help out a little bit.”

Fans of the winningest franchise without an NBA title have taken a mostly Vandrossian approach to the criticism. Enduring a possible fifth consecutive season out of the playoffs after the Suns reached the 2010 Conference Finals, fans are insisting the Suns, the Morris Boys in particular, give them the reason to love them now, not waiting to be prompted when the players come out flat.

Markieff has started every game, but his total shooting (52.2 TS%) has been the worst of any Suns regular, including guards like hit-or-miss Gerald Green (34.3 FG% post-All-Star-Break). Aside from occasional highlight-worthy plays, Keef hasn’t rebounded, passed, or defended enough to justify wild cheering from the stands.

Marcus’ boiling temper toward referees, and coach Hornacek, when things haven’t gone his way has been the most notable aspect of his 2014-15 campaign. Hornacek had to institute an automatic benching rule just to curb the technical fouls his players had been compiling earlier in the season. Both brothers, forward P.J. Tucker, and Bledsoe are among the league’s top-12 recipients of technicals this season.

The Morris twins and Tucker will be pressured to boost their on-floor efficiency now that it appears rookie T.J. Warren is coming on. The NC State alum has made 70.8 percent of shots in his past three games and enjoyed a season-high 17 points in 19 minutes on Monday against the Wolves.

A final deterrent for a Phoenix playoff run is a roster that doesn’t seem familiar with what to do if they did have to face Golden State or any Western top-seed in the first round. Granger serves as the sole veteran with significant playoff experience coming off the bench for the Suns. Seeking to make Phoenix his final NBA pit stop, Granger, who has a player option to return in 2016, likens his Suns tenure with that of Grant Hill, apropos considering the latter NBA star’s tortuous injury history. The Suns staff’s reputation as miracle workers makes this a good fit, but Granger is not expected to play much for the remainder of the regular season.

Too avoid the Hawks’ third-straight road defeat, it is incumbent upon All-Star Al Horford and Paul Millsap to bring out the whooping stick at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Horford (3-for-10 FGs @ DEN, three rebounds in 23 minutes) must dominate his head-to-head matchup with second-year center Alex Len (6.4 PPG, 6.5 RPG; 5.5 blocks per 100 possesions, 4^th in NBA; 3.1 personal fouls, 7^th among active NBA players). Earl “Viscount” Barron has been brought in full-time to bolster the Suns’ frontcourt depth.

As Mike Scott sits with a toe injury, Millsap (5-for-12 FGs and team-high 5 rebounds @ DEN) will have to avoid falling into unnecessary foul trouble. Kyle Korver needs to play a fullcourt game, rebounding while helping to keep Green from heating up. Green scored 33 points as the shorthanded Hawks gave up a season-high 129 points in Phoenix last March.

Effective man defense has been the name of the game (40.5 opponent FG%, 30.1 3FG%) in Phoenix’s five wins since the All-Star Break. Still, the Suns surely won’t have the same effectiveness they enjoyed against Minnesota on Wednesday, when they held the Wolves to 1-for-13 shooting from 3-point range. Even with Tucker hounding Korver (5-for-7 3FGs @ DEN) and Scott out-of-action, there should be Hawks open for shots around the horn, particularly Kent Bazemore and DeMarre Carroll.

With far better execution on both ends of the floor, the Hawks’ starters can prove that their Friday the 13^th performance transpired two days early.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3