Friday, December 18, 2009

December 18th Game Thread: Utah (15-10) @ Atlanta (18-6)

TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)

TELEVISION
: SportSouth

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Jazz

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Joe Smith has been upgraded to day-to-day.

UTAH INJURY REPORT
: Matt Harpring is out.

BY THE NUMBERS

Team Poss Off Eff eFG% FT Rate OR% TO%
UTAH (off)
90.2
1.124
52.0 24.2
26.4 15.7
ATL (def)
90.7 1.060 49.9
26.4
26.9
16.1

Team Poss Off Eff eFG% FT Rate OR% TO%
UTAH (def)
90.2
1.091
50.2 34.9
25.0 15.3
ATL (off)
90.7 1.160 51.3
21.4
30.4
13.2

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -6, 206.5 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Salt City Hoops, SLC Dunk

PREVIOUSLY, THE UTAH JAZZ...beat the Nets 108-92 in New Jersey Wednesday night.

I suspect this will be a tough game for the Hawks. Switching every screen against Utah will leave the Hawks susceptible to back-door cuts. Deron Williams will be a handful with the ball in his hands. The Okur/Boozer post combo will tax Atlanta's interior defenders, not least of which becasue Okur will take one of them away from the interior while Ronnie Brewer, Wesley Matthews, and (possibly) the newly-healthy CJ Miles give Utah defensive depth to deploy against Joe Johnson.

On the other hand, Utah's propensity to foul, foul again, and then foul some more could aid the Hawks who, even though they currently have the league's most efficient offense, don't typically get tot the free throw line very often.

Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.

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