AJC: Would they be hopeless without Hinrich?

[Hawksquawk]

Kirk Hinrich had an MRI this afternoon. The Hawks haven’t released the results yet but say they expect to announce something today. I’m told it didn’t look good for Hinrich last night but there was more optimism today because he was moving better.

If Hinrich can’t play or is very limited, the Hawks are in serious trouble against the Bulls. I’m assuming they can’t suddenly change their offensive habits to the point where they can score efficiently against the league’s best D. They need Hinrich for scoring, too, because if you are going to be a jump-shooting team it’s best to send out as many jump shooters as possible, especially one capable of getting his own.

So it seems Atlanta’s best chance in this series is to play rugged defense and pull out some grinding games. They did that against the Magic but the Dwight Defense is null against Chicago, which plays through D-Rose instead of the post. Among Atlanta’s guards, Hinrich is their best chance to slow D-Rose–if not by staying …

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