Horford left nothing to chance, as he has played outstanding ball for the Hawks since Day 1 and has been easily the most consistent rookie performer in the entire NBA.

I mentioned this the other day in my midseason review, but it really bothers me that everyone is just handing the ROY to Kevin Durant (though I will give him props for his 26 point performance in their surprising upset over San Antonio last night).

I can only hope that Horford uses All-Star weekend as a platform to show the world how good he is, and maybe people will start to look a little more closely at him as a viable awards candidate.

Either way, congrats to Al for making the team, and I can't wait to see him show the rest of the world what we Hawks fans see from him night after night.

Sekou Smith weighed in today with some thoughts on the team at the mid-way point; I thought I'd do the same.

Best Win: We've had some good wins so far, but the one that impressed me the most was the 116-111 victory over Utah back on Dec. 17. The Jazz have owned the Hawks the last few years, and their brand of physical ball just overwhelmed us in the past. But this season the Hawks traded body blows with them back and forth the whole game, taking over a tie game going into the final quarter to halt a 9-game skid against the Jazz. It was especially sweet for the Hawks, who saw their season run off track the year before after blowing a 21-point lead in a home loss to Utah.

Worst Loss: There have some frustrating Ls so far, but for my money nothing flustered me more than the 126-123 double-OT loss to Seattle on Nov. 16. It didn't derail the season, and the team rebounded from it to eventually move back over .500, but it spoke to the essence of what has so far kept this team from really asserting itself - the inability to put its competition away. Atlanta had so many opportunities to close that one out, and eventually Kevin Durant's magic overtook them. The loss at Portland on Sunday was heart-breaking, but they are a good team. Losing at home to a 9-35 (they were 1-9 at the time) is hard to rationalize.

Team MVP: Joe Johnson. Easy call. JJ's numbers may be down slightly from a year ago, but when teams put together a defensive game-plan for Atlanta, it still begins and ends with Joe Johnson. His teammates have improved this year, and that has helped the team immensely. But it's not an accident that the Hawks' record is 10-4 (11-4 with the Miami game) when Joe scores 24 or more (hat tip to Hawks PR for that stat).

Biggest Surprise: Anthony Johnson. AJ was an afterthought at the beginning of the season, barely getting off the bench in the first few games (though part of that was due to the birth of his son). But injuries gave the vet a chance to start, and he has been a rock in the Hawks backcourt ever since. He may not be the flashiest player, but his steady play and ability to avoid turnovers (to the tune of a 4-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, 4th-best in the league) has helped the Hawks survive the loss of Speedy Claxton and the adjustment period for rookie Acie Law.

Most Improved: Marvin Williams. We all knew how important Marvin's maturation would be to the team's success, and he has risen to the challenge this year by averaging career-bests 16.6 ppg and 5.8 rebounds. His 33-point performance the other night in Seattle is a hopeful sign of things to come - a more aggressive player, capable of beating teams with his jumper or by slashing to the hole. Josh Smith has done wonderful things for the Hawks this season and is closer to an All-Star appearance than Marv, but Williams' sweet shooting stroke has become one of the most reliable offensive options for the Hawks and has helped to punish teams who bring the double-team Joe's way.

Best Trend: The Hawks transition game. Maybe it doesn't happen as much as we'd like, but when the Hawks are running, it is a thing of beauty. With so many guys who can get up-and-down the court quickly and finish, Atlanta can put points on the board in a hurry when things are clicking. My particular favorite is when Al Horford grabs a rebound and starts the break. The big guy navigates the floor like a point guard and rarely makes a bad decision - not bad for a rookie.

Worst Trend: Fourth quarter woes. Every team is going to blow leads over the course of a season. With as much talent as there is in the NBA, it's bound to happen sooner or later. What has been troubling about the Hawks of late has been the repetitiveness of the way in which they've blown them. I don't think you can pin the blame on any one person, coach or player. It's a collective issue, and it's one the team needs to focus on more than anything else if they want to reverse the curse.

Soapbox Moment: I love Kevin Durant. I went to Texas, and he'll always be one of my favorite Longhorns (alongside Royal Ivey of course). But I think the fact that everyone is handing the Rookie of the Year award to him right now with the way Al Horford has been playing is ridiculous. Take Friday's Hawks-Sonics game as a microcosm of each of the two players' seasons so far: Durant scored 17 points, but they came on 7-21 shooting from the field and he finished the game with only 2 rebounds and a team-worst -18 rating. Horford, on the other hand, had 10 points and 16 rebounds and was +12. Durant is going to be an amazing player in this league, and I am excited for that to happen. But he isn't amazing right now, and to think that he's having a better year than Horford at this point is ignoring the facts at hand. Hopefully people's minds will change as the season wears on.

Second Half Outlook: Looking at the schedule, the name of the game to me is to hold fast during February. With several tough home games (Cleveland, LA Lakers, Detroit) and the last big road trip of the year (including at the Lakers, Jazz, and Spurs), the Hawks will be tested as much if not more than they were with the murderer's row to open the season. If the Hawks can avoid doing anything disastrous (something along the lines of 5-9 or worse) in February, they'll have the opportunity to do some damage in March with several games against their Eastern Conference competitors. Atlanta is in line for its first playoff berth since 1999, and despite the team's recent struggles stand a very good chance of turning that prospect into a reality.

It will be interesting to see how the team reacts to Sunday's loss to Portland tonight when they play the Suns. Phoenix is a team that plays at a pace that favors the Hawks (which is not the same as saying the Hawks will be favored), but if they come out thinking about the Blazers, Steve Nash and co. will run them off the floor. Atlanta got arguably its biggest road win of the season in Phoenix last year, something I'm sure is not lost on the Suns. They also have Amare Stoudemire back, who missed the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season at Philips.

Honestly? I am not expecting a win. There is no such thing as a moral victory of course, but if nothing else I'd like to see them come out with effort and energy to show they are able to put bad losses behind them. That kind of backbone will go a long way towards determining their fate this year. A win would be outstanding, but I'll settle for a close loss.

Game time is 9:00 ET, and you can catch all the action on SportSouth.

This losing business is for the birds. It needs to end, and I say it does tonight. Reading Sekou Smith's article on the team's morale on its current road trip, I get the sense that the guys are staying positive. They know that even with the recent slide their playoff fate still rests very much in their hands, and if they can stay focus they can still make a mark this season.

Seattle has lost 12 straight games coming into tonight, which does give me a little pause; after all, the Hawks have a tendency to relax a little too much when a game looks like a sure victory. But, given that the team is currently 4 games under .500, I don't see motivation being an issue tonight.

What will be an issue tonight is stopping the awesome offensive force that is Damien Wilkins. Wilkins always seems to save his best performances for his uncle's franchise, including a career-high 41 at Philips Arena in November. He hasn't gotten a ton of burn lately, but I'm guessing he'll be in the mix tonight.

Game time is 10:30 ET, so plan on staying up late to catch all of this one.

Let's get this season back on track, whaddya say?

It's a little hollow without a win, but nevertheless let's give it up to Josh Smith for accomplishing the first triple-double of his career. Smoove had arguably his best (statistical) game as a Hawk last night, finishing with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. Oh, he also added on 5 blocks and 3 steals. But as was typical of the game, he also had 7 turnovers. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if anyone is able to accomplish the rarely-seen quadruple-double in the next 15 years, it's going to be #5 for the Hawks.

A frustrating loss that could have been a win, but no time to cry over spilled milk. The Sonics are up on Friday.

Onto the links:

If the Hawks do poorly on this upcoming five-game road trip, the season won't be over (even if it will feel like it). The fact of the matter is, the Eastern Conference playoff race is going to be wide-open all season long, and 35 wins will probably be pretty close to postseason-worthy as things stand now. That's the good news.

The bad news is, after showing signs of getting over the hump on the road earlier this season, the team has reverted to previous form and lost its last five on the road. This is not a good sign, obviously, but especially as the team begins one of two season-defining road trips through the Western Conference.

As Bob Rathbun said on the BasketBlog Weekly Podcast yesterday, how teams fare on these road trips will go a long way in determining who gets to sell playoff tickets and who will be scheduling early tee times.

There is precedent for success for this group, however. Last season the Hawks had two five-game road trips (9 of the games were out west, one was at Chicago), and collectively their record was 5-5. The biggest feather in their cap was the win at Phoenix, but they also picked up wins at Denver and Golden State, two more playoff teams.

Denver presents a good opportunity to get this road trip off to a good start tonight. They play an up-tempo style, and we saw how well that worked in our favor last week with the Hawks impressive 104-93 win at Philips (which feels forever ago for some reason). In addition, Atlanta catches a mini-break in that Carmelo Anthony is out with a sprained ankle, which allows the Hawks to focus more of their attention on Allen Iverson. The Nuggets are talented enough to win games without 'Melo, but his absence certainly gives the Hawks a boost.

Atlanta has had trouble scoring on the road this entire month, but if any team presents the opportunity to get back on track, its Denver.

Last season's win at Denver was one of the highlights of the 2006-07 season, as the Hawks came from 17 down to upset the Nuggets despite injuries to Zaza Pachulia (who will be out tonight as he serves a one-game suspension), Speedy Claxton, Marvin Williams, and Josh Childress.

A win tonight would break the current three-game skid, and maybe allow the fans (if not the team) to gather themselves a little and keep from going all Chicken Little.

Tune in tonight at 9:00 ET to catch the action on SportSouth as the Hawks try to cure what has been ails them of late.

For the second time this season, an Atlanta player has been suspended for a game by the league after a flagrant foul committed against a Toronto player.

Today the league announced Hawks G Anthony Johnson has been suspended for one game after elbowing Raptors G Jose Calderon in the head in Friday night's game at Toronto.

AJ will serve the suspension during tomorrow's matinee game against Portland.

Al Horford received a one-game suspension earlier this season after a flagrant foul against Toronto's TJ Ford.

Tonight's game will be an interesting one for the Hawks. I have said that I thought we started playing a different style of ball (i.e., a much more successful up-tempo style) in the second half of the Cleveland game at Philips Arena. We used it to beat Cleveland, we did it well enough to beat Washington if not for a barrage of missed FTs, and we pasted both the Bulls and Nuggets with it.

Wednesday's game at Milwaukee, unfortunately, saw the team revert to a more plodding pace, and the inability to execute in the half court in the 4th quarter cost the team a potential victory. But can you chalk that up to fatigue from playing back-to-back nights? (Note: I don't think it's a legit excuse, but in theory, it could have played a role)

Tonight though, there are no excuses, at least for pace of play. Toronto has the ability to put points on the board - witness the 116-91 blitzing of Sacramento on Wednesday. If the teams get out and run, I think the Hawks stand a very good chance of coming out victorious, even in a hostile environment like Toronto (where fans will no doubt be going after Al Horford as a result of his flagrant foul on TJ Ford).

If the game becomes a half-court affair though, I like the Hawks chances much less. Chris Bosh is exactly the kind of post player that gives the Hawks fits, as is a penetrating guard like Jose Calderon. If we are out there pushing the pace, I think we can make up for that disadvantage, but in a slow-it-down game, we are in trouble unless we shoot like 60% from the field.

Either way, tonight's game could prove to be very important for this team. A win tonight, coupled with a win over the Blazers on Monday, and the Hawks would be leaving for the West Coast with a record above .500.

Tune in tonight at 7:00 on SportSouth to see what happens.

Congrats to former Hawk Royal Ivey, who played very well in relief of injured Milwaukee PG Mo Williams. As you may know, I have quite the soft spot for Ivey, a former Texas Longhorn, but I would have liked to see him have this kind of game against the rest of the league, not us.

Once again, I feel the need to remind myself that I am going to get frustrated with this team at times this year, and last night was most certainly one of those times. But its easy to get caught up in how we are playing and not pay attention to the competition, which appears to be in the process of doing the exact same things to their fans as well.

Take Washington for example. They beat us on the road, then win back-to-back games over Boston, something no one else has done this season - then lose big to New York? How frustrating must that be for Wizards fans?

So take heart, Hawks fans. Last night was a missed opportunity, but the impressive wins over Chicago and Denver still happened, and there are still reasons to be happy with them.

In this game, you have to have a short memory. Hopefully, the Hawks will have forgotten all about last night when they tip off in Toronto.

The Hawks' second annual Blog Night took place last night at Philips Arena, and the Hawks were nice enough to oblige our efforts to cull the best sports bloggers from the Atlanta area by putting on quite a show.

Frankly, last night's game couldn't have gone much better on the court. The Hawks came out smoking in the first half in much the same way they did against Chicago on Sunday, continuing the kind of up-tempo style that makes them infinitely more difficult to beat. They were incredibly unselfish against the Nuggets; every single player who saw meaningful action finished the night with at least 3 assists on the way to a season-best 33 dimes.

I don't want to jump to conclusions too quickly, but as I mentioned to several of the participants last night, it seems like the guys have started to figure this whole transition game out. If they go on to finish strongly and make the playoffs, I'm going to point to the second half against Cleveland on January 9 as the point where it appeared the light bulb collectively turned on. Since then, the Hawks have been pushing the ball very successfully in non-fastbreak situations, and if not for a few missed free throws (ok, more than a few) they'd be working on a nice little four-game winning streak right now.

I suppose we'll know for sure if something is really taking place here in the next segment of the schedule, as the Hawks start a 7-of-8 stretch on the road tonight in Milwaukee.

But back to Blog Night. We had a nice array of bloggers on hand (though no one drove in from Maine this year, I'm sorry to say), and since they got to see a convincing home win over one of the better teams in the West, many had very positive things to say about the experience (which included a pre-game arena tour, seats in a suite so they could tap away on their keyboards in peace, a post-game trip to Coach Woodson's press conference, and as a cherry on top, a chance to chat with Al Horford in the Hawks locker room).

It's funny - I don't think the sports world has quite figured out what to do with bloggers yet, but in both of the years we've done this (and once with the Atlanta Thrashers), everyone who has joined in has been respectful, courteous, and appreciative of the opportunity to take a small peek behind the curtain. If anything, I thought last night's crew went out of their way to prove nothing funny was going on (several perfectly acceptable questions for Horford were prefaced with "I swear, I am not writing this down!" qualifiers).

Certainly there are valid reasons to set standards for who you allow in as a member of the press, but as blogs become more and more mainstream, it will be interesting to see what kind of access they are given. Hopefully nights like this will help show that there are many people out there with intelligent, thought-provoking things to say about their subjects of choice - or at least will help continue the LOLcats craze. Either way works for me.

Here's a little sampling from last night; feel free to read the extended entries at each respective site:

Hoopinion:
"Denver fell so far behind in no small part due to Anthony Johnson's fine defense on Allen Iverson. Iverson still had a productive game (before getting tossed) but Johnson, for the most part, forced Iverson into scoring with his jumper. For a team that has had terrible problems keeping opposing guards from breaking them down off the dribble, I think this is as significant a lesson to take from this game as yet another example of how much more successful the Hawks are in transition as opposed to their half-court offense."

Kevin Cott:
"12:00 - Sitting to my left is the Crafty Veteran, whom I'm a little disappointed in at the moment.  The other night I agreed to wear an American flag bandana throughout tonight's game if he showed up in his white suit, but he chickened out.  We could have been the Springsteen and Don Johnson of Blog Night.  It would have been glorious.

0:00 - Fantastic tomahawk dunk by Mario West to close out the first half. It's unclear whether more credit belongs to the Hawks for pushing the tempo or the Nuggets for refusing to play any semblance of perimeter defense. I guess both were indispensable. Regardless, 65-44 Hawks after two."

Crafty Veteran:
"1:20 - Mario West just entered the game for the Hawks. He is my favorite story of the Hawks season so far. To go from a walk on a Georgia Tech to an NBA player based purely on working harder then anybody else is awesome."

"2:26 - The Hawks are playing Iverson very tough tonight. Usually, he is the type of player who gives the Hawks fits because of his quickness. But, Marvin and the Josh's are doing a great job of protecting the rim."

Hawks, Dawgs, and Jesus:
"Iverson makes a normal jumper and everyone ohhh and ahhhs. People, you don't have to make him feel better about himself because he is small."

"Josh Smith lists himself as a small forward on his myspace page, which I view as an official NBA document. Are there any other small forwards that do the opening tip?"

Atlanta Sports Fan:
"I wanted to watch for was to see how Childress gets so many rebounds considering his position, height, and the amount of court-time he sees. It’s clear, pretty quickly, that he is one of those guys that you could call a technical rebounder. For instance, he knows how to play the percentages on where the ball is going to carom on a miss, so he’s always standing in the right place at the right time. In short, I’d say he has good rebounding instincts."

"Marvin Williams picks up where he left off, scoring two quick points off a foul. Williams is a much better player than he gets credit for. He’s got a great jump shot, is an above average slasher, and has a pretty good low-post game for someone his size. He’s just an all-around good player and doesn’t get noticed. The only notoriety he has so far is that he was that guy drafted before Chris Paul."

Sports Gone South:
"The Hawks are starting to show off a variety of attacks; JSmoove just hit a running one-hander, and Horford bulldogged in a give-and-go shot with an And-one. This is the kind of thing that starts happening with a team on the upswing. Yes, I know they’re catching the Nuggets on the back end of consecutive road games, but this is a sign that the potential’s there."

"If Brett Favre plays the game like a little kid, the Hawks play basketball (at their best) like a group of playground all-stars, dishing and kicking and running the other team off the floor. They need one of those old Paul Westhead offenses, where they start running at the horn and don’t stop until they leap into bed at night. Screw fundamentals; if you can run yourself into 200 shots a night, you’ll be okay."

The Vent:
"Ocho Cinco is in the building. Jermaine Dupri is in the building bundled up like he's at the North Pole. It's cold outside and all, but it's not cold in this arena."

Braves and Birds:
"Childress makes me look good with a high hoop IQ play. He catches an attempted alley-oop pass from Acie Law that carried him past the basket. Instead of doing something dumb, he calmly locates Joe Johnson in the corner for an open three, which Joe nails. Kudos to Joe for running to the spot even though Law was throwing an alley-oop on the play."

"The extent of my interaction with Josh Smith:

Me: "Good game."

Him: "Thanks."

On the basis of this interaction, I have decided that the Hawks should pay him whatever he wants this summer."

Thanks again to everyone who participated - a few of the bloggers were familiar from last season, but there were also a few new faces, which was fun. And definitely thanks to the Hawks PR staff for agreeing to continue this tradition and also for arranging the time with the players - I fully expect an upswing in the number of Horford jerseys sold after last night.

Finally, if you read this and feel like you should be involved next year, well, start yourself a little blog and let us know about it. Who knows? It could be you up there next time.

The Hawks and Nuggets play tonight, in a game that I expect to be one of the more entertaining contests you'll see at Philips Arena this season.

Denver likes to run - they average 107.1 points per game, good enough for 4th in the league - and are coming off a 119-116 loss to Charlotte last night. This plays into the Hawks hands, as we can all agree they are at their best when getting out in the open floor and beating the defense to the basket. Still, according to Hawks coach Alton Lister in today's Breaking Down the Nuggets segment, the Hawks have to make defense a priority against a team that can score as quickly as Denver.

Guards that penetrate have given Atlanta huge fits this season, so I expect AI to have a pretty good game tonight. The question to me is, can we hold Carmelo in check enough to limit the damage? We have defenders in Josh Smith and Joe Johnson who can bother him at least a little, but if the Nuggets get 60+ from the two of them, the Hawks will be in trouble.

The other issue for tonight is going to be how to deal with Marcus Camby. Camby's length is going to be a problem for the Hawks, though they will have Zaza Pachulia back tonight after missing a few games with an ingrown toenail. Camby had a huge game last night in Charlotte, scoring 20 points and grabbing 23 rebounds to go with 6 blocks as well. I'm not worried as much about his shot blocking and his scoring as most of our inside baskets come off the break, but I am definitely worried about his offensive rebounding.

The Nuggets should be tired at least a little after last night's game in Charlotte, but will be itching to get back in the win column after a loss. Overall, they have been playing very well of late, winning 7 of 10.

JJ and the boys will need to come out smoking like they did on Sunday against Chicago. If they can build a nice lead in the first half, hopefully Denver's tired legs will make it harder for them to mount a comeback.

A win tonight will give the Hawks a 3-2 record in the recent home stand, and get the team back to .500 (officially that is, since we can't count the win over Miami for the time being) before they begin a stretch of 7 out of 8 on the road.

Look for the team to come out and do what they do best, and hopefully their fresh legs will carry the day.

See you there!

Tonight the Hawks take on the Nuggets at Philips Arena in what promises to be one of the more entertaining games on the home slate. But that is only half of the fun going on tonight, at least for the internet community, as we will be hosting our second annual Blog Night during the game.

Several Hawks and Atlanta-area bloggers will be leaving their parents basements and hauling their laptops down to Philips tonight to live-blog the game, so if you can't make it down to the arena, definitely check out what they have to say over the course of the evening.

Here's a list of the blogs we expect to be represented tonight:

• Hoopinion
• Braves and Birds
• Hawks, Dawgs, and Jesus
• Atlanta Sports Fan
• Right Down Peachtree
• The Crafty Veteran
• Kevin Cott
• The Vent
• The Sporting Blog

Last year was a lot of fun, and we expect this year to provide just as much entertainment.

Speaking of which, a few words on the games from this weekend (the ones that were played, not the one that was rescinded). I think the Hawks are headed in the right direction, but Friday night's loss to Washington was a killer. The Hawks outplayed the Wiz for most of the second half, but their inability to make free throws down the stretch cost them dearly. Washington is just too talented a team to let hang around for that long.

But as frustrated as I was by Friday's loss, that's how excited I was by the win yesterday over Chicago. The Bulls have owned us over the past few years, beating us in every manner - blowouts, shootouts, defensive battles, comebacks; you name it, they've done it to us. So to see the guys come out and just blow them out of the gym (and never let them get close enough in the second half to make it interesting), it was one of the most satisfying wins of the year.

Make no mistake - these Hawks are not there yet. There are still too many Wizards games going on to say that they've finally figured it out. But it is clear to me that the kinds of teams (like the Bulls and the Jazz) who have pushed them around in the past are no longer clear favorites to win those games. These Hawks don't shy away from contact anymore, and that is an incredibly positive sign going forward.

Onto the links:

Hold that celebration, AJ.

You know, you hang around long enough, eventually you'll have a day where you see something you've never seen before.

That would be today, Hawks fans.

The NBA has ruled that because of a score-keeping error, the Hawks and Heat will have to replay the final 51.9 seconds from their Dec. 19 (former) 117-111 win over Miami.

Yup - you read that right. On March 8, before the scheduled 48-minute affair between the division rivals, the two teams will first re-write the final scene from the previous game.

The Heat protested the game after Shaquille O'Neal was incorrectly disqualified after picking up his fifth foul with 51.9 seconds left and the Hawks leading 114-111. Shaq was accidentally attributed with an earlier foul that instead belonged to Udonis Haslem, and because of the error the NBA decided to do something they haven't done since 1982 - require a do-over.

This, needless to say, has the office buzzing.

First of all, to set the scene, Shaq fouled Al Horford with 51.9 left on the clock. Horford made the pair, making the score 114-111. So, when they start the replay, it will be 114-111 Hawks lead, and Miami will have ball possession. Shaq will remain in the game (if the Heat so choose, and if he is healthy) with the five fouls, and I guess we'll see what happens.

I am quite certain this is going to get a ton of play in the coming weeks, so I invite everyone to share their opinion in the comments.

In the meantime, Hawks-Wizards tonight at Philips. Here is the "Breaking Down The Wizards" segment I recorded today with Coach Drew, check it out.

Sorry, I'd have more, but my head is spinning.

See you tonight!

Update: Hawks owner Michael Gearon spoke with reporters at halftime of the Wizards game, and seemed mostly at peace with the league's decision. Here's a little of what he had to say:

"We've dealt with a lot of adversity the last few years, so this is nothing new to us," said Gearon. "We are used to being underdogs, and I think a lot of times it brings guys closer together and makes them work harder. I don't think there was any malicious intent on the scorer's part; it was an honest mistake and usually these kinds of things work themselves out during the course of a game. There is nothing we can do about it now, but I think we've shown in the past few years an ability to stay patient and usually things work out."

Second Update: There have been a lot of questions about whether or not tickets to the Dec. 19 game will be valid for the redo on March 8, either for the last 51.9 seconds by itself or if it would get them into the regularly scheduled game that night against Miami. The official word is that the redo will be played directly before the main game that night, and only people with tickets valid for the March 8th game will be allowed in the building. Bottom line? If you want to see both finishes, buy a ticket for the regular game.

Two things stood out to me above anything else from last night's game. One, Joe Johnson appeared to kick into a gear I'm not sure I've seen this year, repeatedly charging into the lane for important baskets. It's not like Joe always settles for jumpers, it just seemed like he had a determination last night that he was going to attack and wouldn't let anything get in his way. I asked him about it after practice today, and he talked about how important it was for the team to win not only last night, but in the next few games before they go on the road. It was really a great game for JJ last night, one that if it were on national TV I'd say would go a long way towards putting him in the All-Star game.

The other thing that stood out, and I imagine anyone else who was at Philips last night would agree to this, was Anthony Johnson's thunderous dunk in the third quarter at the end of the Hawks big run. To say that I was surprised to see AJ throw it down so ferociously is a bit of an understatement. We talked about it today, and he laughed about that aspect of it. He said he never wants to be the player on the team with the fewest amount of dunks (watch out T-Lue), so every now and then he has to go up and get it. Dunk of the year so far for my money.

We'll have more tomorrow as the Hawks prepare for a big divisional game against Washington on Friday night.

Onto the links:

Big one tonight at Philips folks, for a number of reasons. Obviously the fans will be out tonight to see LeBron (again, please remember, like Happy Fun Ball, he is not to be taunted). The Cavs, after playing fairly mediocre basketball for the first month or so of the season (due in part to LeBron's finger injury), have picked it up of late, winning four straight games beginning with last Wednesday's 98-94 win over the Hawks in Cleveland.

In Breaking Down The Cavs today, Hawks assistant Bob Bender talked about the need to keep Cleveland off the boards. I definitely think that will be the key to victory tonight. The Cavs don't have a lot of scorers outside of James and maybe Daniel Gibson, but they get lots of points off putbacks and second chances. If the Hawks can win the rebounding battle tonight (especially on the defensive glass), then I like their chances.

Sekou Smith talked about this yesterday in the BasketBlog podcast, and I've been thinking about it today. As Hawks fans, we are emotionally attached to every game. When we win we get excited, and when we lose we think the world is collapsing (Lang Whitaker touched on this today in his column as well). But to really judge this team, you have to keep emotions out of it and just look at the facts; i.e., keep the big picture in mind.

Here are the facts. The Hawks, even though they've lost four straight, are 15-16, which is a pretty nice improvement over a 10-21 record they had at the same point a year ago. This team is better than they've been in several years, and there is much to be excited about. I fully expect them to be in the hunt for the playoffs. But there are going to be stretches like the one they are in now where they puzzle us just as there will be periods where the team looks like world beaters. Hopefully, the latter will happen more often than the former, but in the meantime, we just need to all keep perspective.

With that said, a win tonight is fairly crucial, not only to break out of the four-game slide, but to get a win over a team that stands directly in our path of obtaining a playoff berth. We nearly got one up in Cleveland, but a lack of execution down the stretch plus LeBron going postal led to a defeat. Hey, it happens.

I say, look for Joe Johnson to snap out of his recent shooting funk and lead the team back to .500 with a win tonight.

See you there!

I'm heading down to shootaround to record the Breaking Down The Cavs segment, but here are today's links before I go.

I have a few things I've been meaning to post for your viewing pleasure, and today is as good a day as any.

First of all, NBA Video came by the Hawks practice a couple weeks ago to do a behind-the-scenes feature on the team, and it came out really well. Joe, Chills, Marvin, Smoove, and Al all sat and talked about the competitive nature of the team and how they are constantly competing with one another, on and off the court.

There is great footage of Marvin and Joe playing ping-pong, which is something I plan to do a much bigger post about in the near future. (The Hawks have become obsessed with ping-pong, and have a table set up in the players lounge that is nearly constantly in use. Marvin is generally regarded as the team's best player, with Al Horford not far behind.)

In addition, there are a couple other videos that are worth a few minutes of your time. The first is of 8-year old David Militello, who recently sang the national anthem before the Hawks-Pacers game on Dec. 26. If you don't know Militello's story, he is an autistic third-grader from Douglasville who has been singing since he was three years old. I dare you to watch this without smiling.

Finally, I for one have always been fascinated by how the Philips Arena crew is able to switch the floor from basketball court to hockey rink (and vice versa) so quickly, as they are forced to do many, many times during the year. Here, courtesy of the Philips Arena video crew, a video showing a sped-up version of how it goes down. It's strangely fascinating.

In the meantime, here are some links from the weekend:

Josh Smith has been getting a lot of recognition of late for his prowess in the genre of blocking shots. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as a) he is second in the league at 3.1 rejections per game, and b) he's pretty much been knocking out every "youngest person to ever block x amount of shots" record ever since he got to the NBA.

I mention this today for two reasons. One, the bloggers at Empty The Bench have listed their rankings of the best shot-blockers in the NBA, and Smoove checks in at #5.

I might quibble with putting Yao Ming in front of him on this list since his height has so much to do with his prowess (whereas I think Josh is incredibly skilled at rejecting shots), but otherwise, I'd say this list looks about right.

If you want to see Smith at his finest, check out this compilation of his best blocks of 2007 courtesy of NBA video (#1 can be seen above.

He may need work on his three-point shooting, but when it comes to sending basketballs into the seats, there are few better than Atlanta's own Josh Smith.

So far this season, the team has done a good job of responding when they needed to, and a win tonight would be a great lift before the team begins a critical five-game homestand, one that begins tomorrow night with New Jersey.

I don't really need to tell you what two wins in two nights against two teams locked in competition with the Hawks for the playoffs would do for the team's chances.

Let's hope we get off to a good start tonight at Indy and carry it from there.

Game time is 7:00 pm, and the action is available on FSN South. Tomorrow night's game is not on TV by the way, so come on down to Philips and see it in person.

Onto the links:

What can you do about last night's game other than shrug your shoulders? The Hawks had their chances to win over the Cavs last night for certain, but when a player like LeBron James takes over the way he did, I just don't know how much you can do about it.

Atlanta left LeBron a little too open a few times, but for the most part they were in his face for almost every shot in the fourth quarter, and James dropped them like he was shooting free throws in an empty gym.

For the most part I was happy with the team's effort last night. It just seemed like a few too many shots rimmed out on us, and a few too many dropped in for them.

Still, a loss is a loss, and now the Hawks need more than ever to put forth their best efforts tomorrow night at Indiana. For now, I guess we just have to begrudgingly respect what LeBron James is capable of and resolve to make sure we are far enough ahead next Wednesday that his fourth quarter exploits will be too little, too late.

Links:

I'll be back with more later to talk about the upcoming stretch of games, but in the meantime, here are some links from the last week or so to check out.

It's good to be back!