Stotts Era

As our boys limp home from a predictable, yet nonetheless despicable West Coast death March, they find themselves a mere game up in the loss column for the four seed, and 1st Round home-court advantage, in the East.  Tonight that margin with either double or disappear entirely as The Highlight Factory and the Hawks play host to Miami.  Tonight’s action will be the third of four meetings this year, with the Hawks coming away victorious in their first visit to South Beach, but proceeded to only hang a franchise-low 27 points on the Heat in the first half of meeting # two en route to a 95-79 corporal punishment (I know, 27 tallies in 24 minutes sounds brutal, but they did go 4-5 on FGs to end the half, could have been a lot worse). This will be the first time the Hawks get to see Jermaine O’Neal in a Heat Uniform, and that brings us to tonight’s keys.

1. Although his scoring has dropped precipitously, O’Neal’s ambidextrous post repertoire might demand a double team, so it is imperative to find him early and deny him his spot on the low block.  If the Hawks are forced to double, the Heat are decent at swinging the orange and locating the open man for an uncontested triple.  If the Heat hit 7 or more threes tonight, Atlanta is in trouble.

2. Cherish The Rock.  Mario Chalmer’s Marv Levyesque spider monkey arms could cause problems for an under the weather Bibby. In a related story, I wish Woody would ban Josh from any and all backcourt dribbling.

3. Mediums on the Boards. The Hawks need a combined 22+ rebounds from our starting Mediums(Joe, Josh, and Marvin).

4. No Philanthropy Toward D-Wade.  After the Billups parade to the charity stripe a couple of nights ago, the Hawks desperately need to keep Wade off the line.  The guy is gonna get his anyway.  He’s got more shake moves than a U-Haul in Tehran, more range than an ICBM, more handles than a schizophrenic trucker, he can hang more points on cats than a porcupine’s orgy, Atlanta can’t allow him to get in rhythm cheaply.

5. Finally, and most importantly, our Hawks with win if…….Zaza doesn’t commit an illegal screen.

Go get em’ Hawks, Time to get back on track.