vs.
Atlanta Hawks (24-8, 10-5 road) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (26-7, 15-2 home)
What you need to know:
Time: 10:00 EST
TV: SportSouth HD
Radio: 92.9 The Game FM
Location: Moda Center
For the first time since 1997, the Atlanta Hawks are in first place in the Eastern Conference. Let that sink in for a second.
A little more…
Just a bit more…
Okay. Now that you’ve had time to process this we can focus on the Hawks having to play in one of the League’s toughest places to play tonight; the Rose Garden (I will never refer to Portland’s arena as the Moda Center).
The Blazers come into tonight winners of their last four games, which is pretty impressive considering they’ve been without their defensive anchor Robin Lopez for this little run. Prior to this current winning streak, the Blazers had two five-game winning streaks in December and won nine-straight games in November. This is a streaky team that’s currently undefeated on its seven-game homestand. So winning in Portland is going to be tough tonight even without Lopez inside.
The Hawks are riding a mini-hot streak as well winners of their last four games, but are also winners of nine of their last 10 contests. This is the second game of Atlanta’s quick Western Conference roadtrip as the club still has a date with the Los Angeles Clippers Monday evening before returning to Atlanta to face the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night.
The Blazers need to keep winning on their long homestand to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder as far back as possible in the Northwest Division standings, while the Hawks need to keep up their winning ways to stay atop the Eastern Conference.
Three things to watch:
- Portland and Atlanta are both in the top 10 in offensive and defensive ratings. So expect a very close contest between two very balanced, and efficient, execution on both ends of the floor.
- With Lopez out, Joel Freeland played over 30 minutes in the Blazers last game with Chris Kaman getting the remainder of the minutes at the five. The one area where the Hawks have an edge is Freeland and Kaman on Al Horford. Should be interesting to see if the Hawks look to him early and often.
- The Blazers don’t have the luxury of major depth like the Hawks possess at the moment. Portland head coach Terry Stotts only went eight-men deep in their last contest, while Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer can go 10-plus deep in his rotations.
Should be fun.
