recap

boxscore

Straight Outta Vancouver

Hawks win. No one was injured. I love the preseason!

Welcome back Mo! Have we met?

I am just going to say it. If Maurice Evans puts in 27 a night, the Hawks are going to the conference finals and probably curing some diseases along the way.

Of course Mo is probably not going to be able to call upon his inner Kobe Bryant that often, but I did not even know Evans  had it in him to hit a shot off the dribble.  So no one says the preseason is full of misinformation.  I feel like I am in an intensive learning experience.

Jeffrey!

If you are desperately trying to talk yourself down from edge of the Jeff Teague building of hope and optimism, don't read this Mo Evans' quote.

"He makes a tremendous difference having a point guard on the second unit who really distributes the ball the way he does," Evans said. "I found myself really open and getting quality looks."

From what I hear mostly and see a little, Jeff Teague is not bad. He looks like he plays under control and the one thing that does not change from the preseason to the regular season, scary fast freaking speed, is on full display.

Last night, he started out 0-5 from the field and then did a very unrookie thing and kept playing within himself and finished the game making four of his final six shots.

Teague still has not shown an ability to get off and/or make his jump shot, and I have not really been able to see his defense, but it is tough not be a little excited about our rookie. Ok, really tough.

Put it on the big screen

Why has this preseason been so enjoyable? The starters look like starters, they look better than the second team, look better against the other team's starters, and then come off and the backups look like starters against other team's backups.

It is weird that in games that don't matter you sometimes deal more with reality by looking big picture over small picture and right now the starters look healthy and sharp and the backups outplay anyone they find of the floor. There is a lot of fluff in that. A lot of preseason figures to mislead, but the Hawks look good. And if your starters are playing 21 minutes a game, that can't be a bad thing.

Highlights and bullets after the jump.

• Courtney Sims dominated the other fifth string centers.
• I would do many things that would be looked down upon by society if it ensured Al Horford got to the line 10 times a game.
• Juan Dixon is not afraid to shoot.
• Garrett Siler's shot blocking style involves not jumping. Really, not moving at all.
• It is official, I am ready to see Jamal Crawford on the court.
• One out of the hundreds of reasons I love the NBA is that games last about 2 hours. The replacement refs are killing this reason. What's next? No kiss cam. I demand justice. 

Go Hawks!