Atlanta Hawks 08-09 Game #68
	@
41-24		38-28
Phillips Arena
March 15, 2009, 1:00 PM
Sports South, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass
Probable starters:
Steve Blake	PG	Mike Bibby
Brandon Roy	SG	Joe Johnson
Nicolas Batum	SF	Mo Evans
LaMarcus Aldridge	PF	Josh Smith
Joel	C	Al Horford

Hawks Injury Report: Marvin Williams and some dude named Craig.

Blazers Injury Report: Rudy Ferdindez is day to day, but I do not think he will play. Greg Oden is out, a man I have still yet to see play live...

Blogging With the Enemy: Blazers Edge, in my opinion, one of the best blogging communities on the internet.

Predicted bane of the Hawks existence: Joel.

Game Preview:

Can you make your first statement the fifth game in to a possible five game win streak? Oh shoot yes you can. It started with a must win, then you just hoped for one more coming from a streaky team, next you said no way a third, and then the fourth you say got to have this one. Now other streaks have been busted, business has been taken care of, and the Blazers come to town asking really how serious are you Hawks? And as a fan, that excites me.

Being a blogger, the Blazers are kind of like the Braves before serious cable. You may want to be an Astros fans but all you are getting is 140 games of Atlanta Braves on TBS. Henry Abbot, one of the best NBA bloggers around, is a Blazers fan. So his blog TrueHoop covers every which part of the NBA, but if something big happens to the Blazers, he basically writes a memoir on it. I find the whole thing extremely captivating and very annoying.

On the Hawks website, Henry called the Blazers the Hawks of the west coast. That seems a lot like Georgetown calling itself the Princeton of District Columbia but maybe I am just a pessimist. Maybe the Hawks are on the cusp of something great. Maybe I have fallen prey to national media down playing Atlanta this season. Maybe I am just looking at the good of Henry Abbots' eloquent words and not recognizing the fine basketball I see every night. I mean I did praise Nate McMillan during the last Blazer game only to find out many Portland fans rail on him like some of us rail on Woodson. Is the grass really always greener on the other side?

Ohhhh how i digress. Tomorrows game is a fun/big one. Here are the keys.

1. Joe Johnson shoots over 47%. 
2. Josh Smith outplays LeMarcus Aldridge.
   
3. Al Horford keeps Joel off the offensive glass.
   

Bam. Roasted. To the Blazers fans who stumble upon this sight, I say welcome. I hope you find your stay enjoyable minue two and half hours staring at one eastern tomorrow.

This is an open thread for all things Hawks including speaking your mind about how badly Woody would have used Brandon Roy, what you will do when the Hawks win five in a row, and answering why the NBA has non nationally televised games at 1 pm on Sunday.

Go Hawks!