Hawks vs. Pacers, Game 1: Larry Drew going with Atlanta's 'best lineup'

Larry Drew talked about his decision to go with a smaller lineup with Kyle Korver at small forward and Al Horford at center prior to Game 1 against the Pacers. Drew said he wanted to get the combination on the floor that had performed the best throughout the season.

"I wanted to go with what we've been best with throughout the season," coach Larry Drew said. "We've been smaller, we've been quicker. We've been faster. It's certainly something we'll keep an eye on throughout the series against this team because they are so big. We are going to have to be us. We made that decision throughout the three days of preparation. We'll be prepared to make adjustments."

Often times this season Drew has elected to match lineups with the opposing team. In this case he is going to try and force the Pacers to match up with the Hawks. That was the thinking early on when Lou Williams was placed in the starting lineup before being injured.

The smaller lineup puts more pressure on Al Horford and Josh Smith to do a great job on the boards. The biggest question mark might be in how the Hawks will guard Paul George with whom Kyle Korver will draw initially.