Sorry the blog has been so lax the last few days, I was out of town for a wedding and didn't get back until this morning (Long story short - I've been to roughly a billion weddings in the past two years, and this was finally the last one on my calendar until next May. No more toasts, no more cake, hopefully just some peace and quiet now and some winning basketball).

Now I'm back, and dare I say I'm badder than ever. I've got so much, in fact, that it's going to require some bullets:

• First and foremost, the Hawks take on the Bobcats tonight. Charlotte is to Atlanta what kryptonite is to Superman, as the Bobcats have inexplicably won the season series with the Hawks in every year of their existence so far. I have a bit of a reputation around the office for placing too much emphasis on things at times, but I'm going to do exactly that right here. Tonight's game is a must-win game for Atlanta. It has nothing to do with the team's record (although 2-5 certainly wouldn't be very awe-inspiring); instead it has everything to do with making a statement about what this team is capable of doing this season.
  
  The team is 2-4, yes, but three of those losses are easily explainable (the Pistons, Nets, and Celtics should contend for conference honors in the East, barring injuries). I don't think anyone was happy with the loss to the Wizards on Sunday, but even that one can be rationalized - Washington made the playoffs last year and was desperate for a win. None of the losses tasted good, but they were at least understandable to an extent.
  
  Tonight, on the other hand, there are no excuses. The Hawks are rested. The Bobcats played last night in Miami. The Hawks are healthy (C Zaza Pachulia will make his first appearance in the starting lineup tonight after missing the first two weeks of the season with ankle and knee injuries), while the Bobcats are without two of their best players, Sean May and Adam Morrison, for the entire season. Simply put, the Hawks have got to win games like this if they want to show to the world they have matured and are capable of a playoff run in 2007-08. A loss cannot be justified.
   
• The NBA released the All-Star ballots for 2007-08, and typically, the Hawks are underrepresented. Only Joe, J Smoove, and Zaza are on the official list, so if you want to see someone like, say, Marvin, get in the discussion, you're going to need your pen and paper (so to speak - I think it's all available online). My early guesstimate? I say we put four guys in New Orleans for the weekend - Joe in the game, Al and Acie in the rookie game, and a player to be named in one of the skills competitions (my vote is Salim in the 3-Point Shootout).
   
• Speaking of the rooks, both Al and Acie check in pretty high in the latest NBA Rookie Rankings, with Al holding firm at #3 and Acie moving up a spot to #5. Not bad for a couple weeks work...
   
• As I mentioned above, Zaza Pachulia will be making his return to the starting lineup tonight, with Horford shifting to the bench. Before anyone starts complaining, let me say that I don't imagine Al's minutes will decrease too much - he'll probably just get more of them at the 4 than solely at the 5, and also, that he is still a rookie, and we have to try to keep him fresh for the long haul. Horford (and Law) are going to hit the rookie wall at some point - the worst thing we can do is speed that process up by overworking them too early. I talked to Zaza today after shootaround, and he is fired up to get back on the court and help out. Hopefully the rust of having to sit out for a few weeks will be minimal for the big guy and he'll be able to get right back into the flow.
   
• Lang Whitaker's new column is up on the Hawks site - what do you think of it so far? I think he has been a welcome addition to these parts, as has the Blogger Roundtable (the participants are great, but I just love the banner our creative guys made for us - big thanks to Jason Duignan for that one). This week the Roundtable discusses the Hawks opening six-game stretch and how the team performed relative to our expectations. My two cents? I'd much prefer 3-3 given how we started, but 2-4 was what I told myself I'd settle for before the season began. With winnable games tonight and Friday (can Seattle please win a game before they get here), we have no reason not to be back at .500 by the weekend.

Alright, that's enough for now - don't want to give you too much to focus on at one time. Let's all just concentrate on the Hawks coming out firing on all cylinders tonight and picking up a crucial division win against the Bobcats, and finally - FINALLY - getting a season win over those guys.

Game time is 7:00 ET, and if you can't make it to Philips you can catch all the action on Fox Sports Net.

See you there!