Takin' care of business - that's what the Hawks have been doing the last couple weeks. Getting home wins over the Clips, Magic, Bucks, Bulls, and Knicks, sprinkled in with road wins at New York and Washington, has Atlanta sitting 2.5 games up in the chase for the last playoff spot with only 9 games left on the calendar. Over the past 9 games, the Hawks have won every game they were "supposed" to - all their home games, with the only losses coming at New Jersey and at Chicago (yes the Hawks could have won those games, but being that they were on the road against teams with talent, I wouldn't say we were supposed to).

Tonight's game at Memphis is another game I'd say we are "supposed" to win. The Grizzlies are in the league's basement, and we beat them with relative ease at Philips Arena back in December. Will we win? It's hard to say. We've had our share of troubles on the road this season, and the Grizzlies can still play despite their record; they beat the Lakers in Los Angeles on Friday.

Grizzlies blog 3 Shades of Blue has a breakdown of tonight's match-up and gives the Hawks the advantage at 4 of the 5 positions on the court.

I look at this game as a temperature check for this team. A win would be the team's fourth in a row, something they've only achieved once this season, amd one that would be a terrific boost for the team's confidence with the last tough stretch of the season on deck. Any chance the Hawks have to move up and avoid the Celtics in the first round will depend greatly on how they perform this week, as the Raptors and Sixers (twice) are next on the menu. A win tonight puts Atlanta within improbable but not completely unrealistic distance of making that kind of late charge. While a loss doesn't necessarily end those hopes (mathematically speaking), it won't bode well for them either - the team just won't be truly dangerous until they can show a capability to win games on the road.

Yes the Hawks are playing the second night of a back-to-back, but I think they can win this game. The Grizz are the kind of team you can beat during a back-to-back; i.e., they don't play much defense.

Look for the game to be up tempo, which plays to the strength of both teams, but look for Atlanta to use that more to its advantage and outscore Memphis for a critical road win.

Game time is 8:00 ET, and your channel is FSN.

Miami at Indiana
Desired Outcome: A Miami win! Chaos ensues! Dogs and cats living together!
Probable Outcome: Ummm...not gonna happen. Indiana may get Jermaine O'Neal back for tonight's game, but if that doesn't happen, they'll probably only win by 20 instead of 25.