The San Antonio Spurs take on the Atlanta Hawks tonight at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. The Hawks come into San Antonio winning seven of their last eight games without their star Joe Johnson. As a matter of fact, the Hawks are 4-1 without Johnson.
To talk about the game, I turn to fellow Bloguin NBA blogger Deborah of Hawks Highlights one of the best Hawks site on the Internet. We discuss the Hawks inconsistency, what 
Atlanta has to do to win the game tonight, which matchup should Spurs and Hawks fans keep an eye on, and much more.
Jeff: So Joe Johnson. What is his prognosis and any chance he can come back soon for the Hawks?
Deborah: The Hawks are still going with 4 to 6 weeks (Now a week less). It was just to remove loose bodies, so he should recover completely and be ready to play when he is released.
Seems lately the Hawks have been letting games go. Case in point their recent loss against the 76ers and a loss to the Dallas Mavericks. You have any reason why this is occurring and is this an epidemic for Atlanta?
The Hawks have two problems. One is that the bench is quite iffy. Some games they will perform very well and some guys they may as well not show up at all.
The second is that they have no true center and matchups with teams with a big man inside can be problematic. The bench is a matter of just getting in gear.
The center problem is not going away this season, unless the Hawks change what they have said previously which was that they intend to go with what they have – period.
OK let’s talk about tonight’s game. The Hawks are an atheltic team which can get up-and-down the court. However, this Spurs team is not the same “grind-it-out” team as in the past and are running more this season. What do the Hawks have to do to escape San Antonio with a win?
The Hawks must have their motion offense moving the entire game. They can’t play close the whole game or even worse try to play catch up late. They also have to play good defense and also not commit turnovers.
What matchup should Spurs and Hawks fans look for in the game tonight?
Whomever the Spurs match on Maurice Evans. He is in starting for Johnson and some games he has done well and some not so much. He matched up really badly with Wade when the Hawks played the Heat. If the Spurs can match up someone along the lines of a Wade with Evans, the Hawks are going to get very little production out of him.
The Hawks haven’t exactly beaten the upper-crust of NBA teams in their recent win streak. Taking on the Spurs tonight in San Antonio will be daunting. However, the Hawks seem to thrive on the motion offense. Is this the key for the Hawks to win?
The Magic aren’t considered the upper crust anymore? The Hawks have gotten wins against some “easier” teams, but the win against the Magic was a good one especially since the Magic are on top of the division right now. The motion offense is definitely the key to the win for the Hawks, with it working well they have 5 and 6 guys in double digit points without it, they generally lose games.
Prediction. Which team wins and final score.
As much as I want the Hawks to win and think that they could, I don’t feel that they will. Spurs 98 Hawks 95, because they like to lose by 3.
To read the Q&A I did with Deborah at Hawks Highlights click HERE.
