Blazers @ Hawks

[99PROBL3MS]

This will be an interesting matchup. The Hawks and Blazers in my opinion are tter two biggest headscratchers in the NBA. They can both look like contenders one night and look confused the next. The Blazers haven't been hit by the injury bug this year (not yet at least). Marvin Williams has to show up.

Gerald Wallace will probably draw the assignment of guarding Joe and Smoove must play smart against Aldridge to avoid foul trouble. Hopefully we can take advantage of Craw's defense when he is in the game. T-Mac should be able to contribute more tonight also. I have the Hawks wining at home 94-89 with Smoove and Joe continuing their great play in Horf's absence.

[Supporter]

ESPN game fml

[Hawked]

This will be an interesting matchup. The Hawks and Blazers in my opinion are tter two biggest headscratchers in the NBA. They can both look like contenders one night and look confused the next. The Blazers haven't been hit by the injury bug this year (not yet at least). Marvin Williams has to show up.

Gerald Wallace will probably draw the assignment of guarding Joe and Smoove must play smart against Aldridge to avoid foul trouble. Hopefully we can take advantage of Craw's defense when he is in the game. T-Mac should be able to contribute more tonight also. I have the Hawks wining at home 94-89 with Smoove and Joe continuing their great play in Horf's absence.

Hawks are not winning this one. They will probably lose to Portland by 10 points or more.

[Guest]

If we are playing on National TV we are doomed. Sorry guys.

[benhillboy]

Looking forward to the game. I like Batum but don't get to follow him much, would like to see his growth. Anxious to see Crawdog again. I wanna see a few of those spectacular plays but overall I hope he shoots 25%. If our front line keeps theirs off the glass, we should be good.

[Admin]

I'm actually feeling pretty confident about this one with the way that Joe, Josh and Jeff have been playing lately. If the 3 of them show up and our bench contributes in any positive way then we've got a great chance! Plus I think that we'll also be looking to put on a good show as I think this is our 1st time back on National TV since since that embarrasing Heat game.

[Admin]

Smooving right along

While the Atlanta Hawks are counting on a team effort to help fill the void left by injured center Al Horford, it's safe to say Joe Johnson and Josh Smith feel more than comfortable leading the way.

Seeking a season-best fourth consecutive victory, the Hawks look to extend their winning streak over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers to six games Wednesday night in Jamal Crawford's return to Atlanta.

Atlanta (10-4) lost Horford for at least three months after he tore his left pectoral muscle in last Wednesday's 96-84 loss at Indiana. The Hawks, though, haven't missed a beat without their two-time All-Star thanks in large part to Johnson and Smith.

The Hawks have since outscored opponents by an average of 13.7 points over a three-game run while the duo has thrived. Johnson is averaging 25.0 points in the last three games - 8.3 more than he posted in his first 11 - while Smith is averaging 22.0 on 57.4 percent shooting and 12.0 rebounds.

"(Smith is) just playing. He's not worrying about anything," point guard Jeff Teague told the NBA's official website. "I think that's carrying over to everybody. He has me playing like that. It's going throughout the team."

Johnson and Smith continued their tremendous play Monday, combining for 55 points as Atlanta improved to 6-1 at home with a 93-84 win over Toronto.

"We have veteran guys who have been there and done that before. All we need is to just keep flying under the radar," Smith said.

"We've played against some good teams here and some not-so-good teams, so we've just got to be able to be disciplined no matter who we're playing against."

Teague has also come up big, averaging 16.3 points and 7.6 assists during the three-game run.

"It's going to take team efforts every night," said Teague, who scored a career high-tying 24 points during a 91-82 home win over the Blazers on March 12. "We've played well the last few games, but coming in here, Portland is a really good team. They'll play hard. We'll just have to stay together."

The Hawks have taken five straight from the Blazers (8-5) while Johnson's scored 24.4 points per game. His average of 21.1 points versus Portland is his second highest against any opponent.

After dropping the first two legs of their six-game road trip, the Blazers snapped a season-worst three-game skid with Monday's 84-77 win at New Orleans. LaMarcus Aldridge, leading Portland with 22.7 points per game, scored 16 of his game-high 22 in the second half.

"That was a good wake-up call by him," forward Nicolas Batum said of Aldridge. "He took over the game and that's why he's our go-to guy."

In addition to trying to slow down Aldridge, the Hawks could have a hard time containing Batum. The 6-foot-8 forward has gone 8 of 12 from 3-point range in averaging 24.0 points in his last two games.

Crawford, who averaged 16.1 points off the bench for Atlanta over the previous two seasons before signing with Portland following the lockout, has in contrast been pretty quiet of late. He's shooting 22.6 percent in scoring a combined 21 points in his last three games.

Portland sits near the top of the NBA with 104.7 points per game at home but is scoring just 90.0 as the visiting team. The Blazers are shooting 41.3 percent on the road to rank in the bottom third of the league.

Link to full article

[frosgrim]

I think the Hawks will win. The key is finding a way to exploit Crawford's lack of defense. That may mean using Jeff and Joe on top of the arc picks, or Joe and Josh on a lot of screen and roll stuff. My main point is that the Blazers have some defensive weaknesses that play into the hands of the Hawks offensive strengths.

On the other side of the ball, I think the Hawks match up really well with the Blazers. JJ can guard Crawford and the rest of ours match up well with the rest of theirs. Aldridge is the one guy that can really give us fits, however.

[lethalweapon3]

There's a big push among fans in Blazerlandia to give the younger guards some burn, especially with Felton and Crawford struggling for long stretches. Look for Nolan Smith to try and have a breakout game.

~lw3

[Diesel]

All indications are that we're taking one tonight.

They have bigs that know how to play in the paint. I would love to see us keep streaking. Maybe get IVAN in there to scare Aldridge. However, we live by the shot.

It's a hard fight tonight.

Go Hawks!!

[lethalweapon3]

Prior to the last game, a couple folks were hoping that Josh would not engage in a shooting contest with Kevin Love. That sentiment should probably extend to Josh's matchups against LaMarcus Aldridge tonight.

LA is the only player 6'9" and up shooting long-distance 2's more often than Josh, 6.8 versus 6.1 shots per game -- Love relies more on threes but shoots 2.7 long-2-pointers per game. Aldridge is also one of the few nailing half of those long jumpers (50.0%). Josh's recent fortunes at this range puts him at 42%, actually above Love (40%).

~lw3

[benhillboy]

This game may come down to coaching. The versatility of our bench on both ends gives Coach ample options to keep or gain momentum. If Drew schemes better than Nate, I'll know he's a keeper.

Edited January 18, 2012 by benhillboy

[PureGreatness]

This is a very important game for Josh. Everybody is saying that Josh Smith has now become the best player on this team. Which I agree. Like the TNT crew said the Hawks are only gonna go as far as Josh Smith take them. Your on National TV(ESPN) going against a good team in The Blazers and a All Star Lamarcus Aldridge. If he wants to make the All star game THIS is the time to show the coaches and fans that this is your team and that you should make the All Star game.

Hawks

[cam1218]

I've been looking forward to this game for awhile. I remember during our game on TNT Barkley praising Portland, saying they are the best team in the West. Of course, all of this was said while he continued to bash the Hawks. Hopefully the Hawks can beat them to shut him up.

Crawford hasn't really been good this year. He has had only one game shooting over 50 percent this month (against Orlando). Most of his games he's been shooting in the 20-33 percent range. Watch him finally have a great game against the Hawks. Even if he starts to shoot better we need to take advantage of him when we are playing offense.

[AHF]

Aldridge is a very tough matchup for this team and they have some athletic, versatile pieces. It should be a good game if we can find a way to match up with LA.

[Gray Mule]

Hate it when the Hawks are on national TV. Don't know why it happens

but we habitually have our worst outings then.

To further deepen the mystery, it only applies during the regular season.

It doesn't seem to bother us come playoff time.

[Supporter]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-120118/nba-contenders-pretenders

Add more fuel to the fire. Post this on the front door of the locker room Coach.

[AJtheGreat]

the team is playing pretty good so far

[AHF]

I love that we got 20 points on 21 shots out of Crawford. Talk about trying to do too much.

[Flight]

Well we got that W guys, by a lot of ya'll predictions I'm guessing this was a shocker lol