Game Thread #33: Houston at Atlanta, January 3rd

WHO: Houston (21-13) at Atlanta (21-11)

WHEN: 7pm

WHERE: No local TV, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass

Injury Report: As always, Speedy Claxton is out. For Houston, Shane Battier is out while both Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest are questionable.

Game Notes

For Entertainment Purposes Only: Atlanta -4.5, 184 o/u

Blogging With the Enemy: The Dream Shake

The Hawks had a bad night in New Jersey last night. Houston had a worse night in Toronto, losing 94-73 and providing Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle with a rich vein of first-person content for his game report...

Tracy McGrady:

"(Effort) is something we’re obviously not giving right now. For whatever reason, at both ends of the court — offensively, especially defensively — we’re not executing. We’re missing assignments. It’s all of us.”

Rick Adelman:

"In this league, you have to find a way to get yourself out of that. Either come together as a group or you don’t. We have to decide on how we want to play. It’s one thing to get beat. It’s another thing to just be outworked, and I thought we got outworked.”

Yao Ming:

"Coach said in the locker room, in this league it’s easy to keep chemistry when everything is going right. Right now, we know we played games at home … just like tonight. We need to fight together."

Rafer Alston, asked if his team is on the same page:

"Not one bit. This is embarrassing. Again. We had this happen the other night in Houston. We had it tonight. It’s sad, and it’s unfortunate.”

The loser of tonight's game will officially be deemed to be in a funk.