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Preview and Game Thread #53: Atlanta Hawks @ Phoenix Suns

Atlanta Hawks 09-10 Season Game #53

Atlanta-hawks_medium
@ Suns-logo_medium

34-18
32-23
US Airway Center
Feb. 19th, 2010, 9:00 PM
Sports South, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass
Probable starters:
Mike Bibby PG Steve Nash
Joe Johnson SG Jason Richardson
Marvin Williams SF Grant Hill
Josh Smith PF Amare Stoudemire
Al Horford C Robin Lopez

Hawks Injury Report: Zaza Pachulia is pain. I hope you are feeling his. I have no doubt you are.

Suns Injury Report: Leandro Barbosa is out

Blogging With the Enemy: Bright Side of the Sun

Predicted bane of the Hawks existence: Grant Hill's leak out layups.

Game Preview:

Every time I see a Suns jersey, I fall in love with Jamal Crawford all over again.

I would have been quite surprised if you told me the Hawks were going to lose that buzzer beater finish pregame. I expected the Hawks to win. So if I did not watch that contest in full, no eye brows would be raised about this one. I would go in to tonight's game with near equal but opposite expectations. We would be looking at a close but not hotly contested loss for Atlanta.

Yet the Hawks played bad and won last time. The Suns were in a tail spend about to pull off an upset on the road. Now Atlanta is on the road. Amare who was figuratively dealt 12 times in the last two weeks is still there. This is a dust settled game. Lots of questions, lots of newness, lots of factors. For how similar these 82 games often are, I really have no idea what is going to happen for about 65 of them. Here lies another example. Will old buzzer beaters matter? What about a new semblance of permanence for the Suns? Are the Hawks ready to go full bore until the playoffs? These are questions that certainly will not be answered in whole tonight, but all will have there say. I, for one, only really know one thing. I want to see Channing Frye and Jason Collins guard each other for exactly two possessions.

Go Hawks!