No excuses made here - Atlanta had every chance to win on Friday and didn't get the job done. Yes, the team was shorthanded, but every team deals with injuries throughout an 82-game season. The loss to the Bucks is more understandable, but either way the team now sits at 3-6 and is staring at back-to-back games against the last two NBA titlists (amazing to think the Heat won the title so recently; it feels so long ago to see them now).

Every season has it's ups and downs, and this is the first real down for Atlanta. Let's see how the team responds - so far they have risen to the occasion when the big boys come a-callin'.

The Hawks have their annual Thanksgiving event later this afternoon, hosting 75 boys from two area group homes – Turning Point and Potter’s House Homes For Children - for an afternoon of food and fun. The event is always a good way for the guys to remember how fortunate they are this time of year, and maybe that will help them refocus themselves for a tough stretch of games coming up.

Onto the links from the weekend:

• AJC (11/18) - BUCKS 105, HAWKS 96: Smith's 38 wasted in Milwaukee

• AJC (11/18) – Local Players in the NBA; Smith, West mentioned

• AJC (11/18) - BASKETBALL: INSIDE THE NBA: Verdicts arrive on Class of 2005; Marvin Williams mentioned

• AJC (11/18) - NBA: Hawks Report: Bionic Man

• AJC (11/17) - NBA: SUPERSONICS 126, HAWKS 123 (2 OT): No. 21, rookie spoil comeback

• AJC (11/17) – Hawks Report: Paging AJ

• The Sunday Paper - The once dismal Atlanta Hawks show real promise. But …

• SI.com - True laughs; Al Horford quoted

• NBA.com - All-Star 2008: 10 Who Could Be First Timers; Josh Smith mentioned (scroll)

• Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Bucks hold off Hawks, 105-96

• Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Bucks could've nabbed Horford

• Sports Network - Durant's buzzer beater boosts Sonics over Hawks in 2 OTs

• Seattle Times - Notebook | Wilkins puts on a show in front of famous family; Hawks-Sonics recapped