Atlanta Hawks (48-26) Cleveland Cavaliers (59-16) Game Preview

Friday April 2, 2010

Atlanta Hawks (48-26) Cleveland Cavaliers (59-16)

Venue: Quicken Loans Arena

Time: 8:00 PM ET

TV: ESPN

Radio: 790TheZone, NBA Audio League Pass

Previous Match Ups

12/29/2009 – Cavaliers 95 Hawks 84 – Recap

12/30/2009 – Cavaliers 106 Hawks 101 – Recap

Hawks – Probable Starters

PG – Mike Bibby

SG – Joe Johnson

SF – Marvin Williams

PF – Josh Smith

C – Al Horford

Cavaliers – Probable Starters

PG – Mo Williams

SG – Anthony Parker

SF – LeBron James

PF – Antawn Jamison

C – J.J. Hickson

Injury Report

Hawks – None reported

Cavaliers – Anderson Varejao – Hamstring (Day to Day),

Shaquille O’Neal – Thumb (Out Indefinitely)

Sebastian Telfair – Groin ( Out Indefinitely)

Hawks Blog Roll

Cavaliers Blog Roll

Cavs: The Blog

Fear The Sword

King James Gospel

Game Thoughts

Hawks travel to Cleveland fresh off of their beatdown of the Lakers on Wednesday. They best thing about the Lakers win was how focused the team came out from the start. That was a major component of the victory and it is a must come playoff time. Of the remaining games on the schedule I see both games against Cleveland, Charlotte, and Milwaukee as being playoff atmospheres. The regular season may almost be over but these games still mean a lot in where the Hawks get seeded and their potential opponent.

The game against the Lakers was a statement game. It doesn’t matter to me that it was the last game on a long road trip and that they were admittingly struggling coming in. That victory was a statement win for the Hawks. Tonight is another such statement game. The Hawks lost the previous two meetings to Cleveland on back to back nights. Frustrating about those games was the Hawks had leads and were in the game until a long dry spell in the fourth quarter did them in at home and a garbage three pointer from Anderson Varejao of all people sunk them in Cleveland. Not to mention the shot clock malfunction.

The fact that the Hawks were in those games has led many fans to say they would rather face Cleveland than Orlando in a potential second round match up. I am going to reserve judgment until I see the outcome of these next two games with the Cavaliers. The Cavs will be without Shaquille O’Neal tonight and could be without Varejao because of a hamstring injury. Antawn Jamison is now a part of the team and was still a Wizard the last time these two teams met. With O’Neal and Varejao out then that could negate some of that size advantage that the Cavs have over the Hawks.

It is going to take a mammoth effort for the Hawks to win this game. I don’t know why but I feel good about it. I think they will be up for this game and I think they believe they can compete with the Cavaliers.

Brian Windhorst @PDcavsinsider is reporting via Twitter that Varejao will be a game time decision tonight.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers