Mike Bibby makes his Hawks home debut tonight as the team thankfully returns home from a brutal West Coast road trip. The media was out in force to talk to him today at shootaround - it's kinda weird to think this is their first chance to see him up close and personal since he's already played five games, but such is life on the road.

But for those who still can't believe we traded for him, it's legit. He has a locker and everything.

I don't think anyone expected us, Bibby or no Bibby, to do exceptionally well on the last road trip. Many teams in the East have gone 1-4 on trips through the Western Conference. That the Hawks just did that is certainly not a good thing, but it's not out of line with what the rest of the East has done. But starting tonight I like to think we'll start to see what this team is capable of going forward with Bibby at the controls, hobbled though he might be (he is still limping a good bit from the heel injury he sustained in the Lakers game).

It's easy to get panicky with the injuries and the losses, but once again, we have to keep things in perspective. The fact is, Atlanta is 1.5 games out of the playoffs, and with 28 games left to play, still very much in the thick of it. But while excuses can be made to explain losing out West, we will be fresh out of them if we can't turn it around now, starting tonight with the Hawks-Kings mini-reunion.

Larry Drew spoke about it in Breaking Down the Kings today, but for the Hawks to win tonight they've got to do a better job of transition defense and slowing down Ron Artest, who was just too much physically for them in the loss at Sacramento last week.

Bret did a good job over at Hoopinion (a terrific Hawks blog, if you aren't reading it currently) breaking down what the Hawks need to do the rest of the season to make the playoffs. I for one think they can pull it off.

Hopefully tonight against the Kings, we'll see the team begin its final push towards getting it done.

Come down to Philips to check it out for yourself.

See you there!