Pelicans at Hawks

“Just stop it, Omer! Stop it! You’re making me laugh!”

It’s Gucci Time! Cut the lights on at the Highlight Factory. The 1^st Year Out Da Feds is going swimmingly well for Gucci Mane, the East Atlanta rapper providing the musical interlude as the Atlanta Hawks host the New Orleans Pelicans. (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports NOLA). Tidbits follow.

• Get Ur Weight Off, Patna! -- Winners of two straight home games, the visiting Pelicans are struggling to shed perceptions that they’re overly dependent on one tremendously good player. Losers of two straight on the road, the Hawks (9-4) are trying to shed presumptions that they’ll fold like a cheap suit once a little adversity hits during a game. For some inspiration, both teams can look to The Artist Briefly Known as Guwop, who shed a metric ton of pounds while doing time for his crime! The East Atlanta Santa is shaped more like a candy cane now and is darn-near unrecognizable, the telltale ice cream cheek tattoo notwithstanding. The ex-con committed to dumping the Lemonade (more specifically, the stuff he used to mix in it, and I don’t mean sugar) from his post-penitentiary diet.

• The League vs. Anthony Davis -- Unibrow remains more than worthy of the Spotlight, even though his nightly production often winds up getting Wasted. The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week leads the NBA in scoring (31.7 PPG) and blocks, not just the Spider-Solitaire-at-work variety (3.0 BPG), while putting up career-best averages in rebounds (11.5 RPG, 6^th in NBA) and steals (1.9 SPG, 7^th in NBA). His improved maneuvering is earning him better looks in the paint (55.5 FG% betw. 3-16 feet; 40.7% last season) and drawing more trips to the line (career-high 11.1 FTAs per game, 81.3 FT%). His 38-and-16 helped New Orleans fumigate the Hornets in OT on Saturday, one night after Charlotte pulled a fast one on the Hawks. After “containing” Kristaps Porzingis to a single offensive rebound on Sunday, Atlanta will try to use boxscore-filling Paul Millsap to keep Davis out of the paint, and more reliant on his long-range jumper (32.6 FG% from 16 feet out).

• I Think I Love Her -- USWNT soccer star Lauren Holiday successfully delivered a baby boy, one month before successfully removing a brain tumor. As new mothers are apt to do eventually, Lauren ordered her caretaker husband to get the heck out the house, and that’s been of great benefit to the Pelicans. Jrue Holiday has wasted little time getting acclimated off the bench, averaging 21.5 PPG and 8.0 APG in two games. His return has helped the Pelicans (4-10) double their win total while alleviating the lightly-experienced but steady third-year player Tim Frazier (7.6 APG, 2.4 TOs/game). Holiday (44.4 3FG%) and Langston Galloway (season-high 23 points, 6-for-11 3FGs vs. CHA; “Jrue is a maestro out there. He’s finding everybody,” he told Pelicans.com) are shooting perimeter shots well, allowing coach Alvin Gentry to rely less on starter E’Twuan Moore (30.8 3FG%) and rookie Buddy Hield (24.6 FG%).

• The Appeal: Germany’s Most Wanted -- Goodbye, Manhattan! Dennis Schröder should be coming into today’s action with clearer eyes and a fuller heart, after putting up a clunker (0-for-8 FGs, 3 assists, 3 TOs in 21 minutes) against the Knicks during a Sunday matinee. Backup Malcolm Delaney wasn’t any better (1-for-4 FGs, 4 assists, 4 TOs in 21 minutes), and the point guard power outage (plus a bunch of flubbed shots around the rim) contributed mightily to Atlanta’s biggest deficit in a loss this season. The Hawks are 6-0 this season when Schröder’s plus/minus is zero or higher, and they’ll need Dennis and Delaney to get back on the positive side versus Holiday and Frazier.

• 6-for-17 Brick Squad -- Decent perimeter shooting helps the Hawks neatly mask their shortcomings. The team is 7-0 when shooting above 35 percent on threes, but the Views From Zone 3 are not as pretty (2-4) when Atlanta falls short of that mark. They’ve been especially “BURR!” of late, not coming close to 35 percent in their last three games (28.4 3FG%) and they barely cleared the 35% bar in Miami (35.3 3FG%) last Tuesday. To hear more “Bingo!” tonight, their teammates must get in better position for catch-and-shoot opportunities when the point guards are coming off screens and driving. Pelican opponents have hit 8.4 above-the-break 3FGAs per game, 3^rd most in the league.

• Speed Bumps -- Dwight Howard will try to make amends from the jump, after granting Knicks backup center Kyle O’Quinn carte blanche (4 O-Rebs, 7 total, plus 6 points in 1^st quarter) on Sunday. Howard (18-and-18 @ NYK) should have little trouble neutralizing Pelicans center Omer Asik, if he can make Asik pay for abandoning him to help Pelican defenders. Backup Alexis Ajinca is returning to action after missing the past two games with a shoulder injury, while Terrence Jones (illness) may sit this one out.

• The Return of Mr. Perfect -- Thabo Sefolosha (67.5 2FG%) is likely to return from his mild knee sprain, helping put various Pelican ballhandlers in the Trap House while replenishing the depth of what has been the league’s premier bench unit. He and Kent Bazemore should Go Head and exploit any advantages they can find against New Orleans, who have struggled mightily to find a steady contributor at small forward. Dante Cunningham supplanted free agent pickup Solomon Hill in the Pels’ starting lineup, but the Pelicans are eagerly anticipating a December return from Tyreke Evans (knee, blood clots) to fill the gap. Gone are inefficient ballers Lance Stephenson and Archie Goodwin, and incoming is swingman Anthony Brown, a former Laker rookie and the top overall pick of this year’s D-League Draft.

• Back on Road -- Gucci will be performing only at halftime, but Hawks players have no time to hang out for a postgame concert, anyway. After tonight’s game, the team immediately takes to the air to resume their road trek. Tomorrow’s pit stop in Indiana will be followed by games in Utah, Staples Center (Lakers), Oakland (Warriors), and Phoenix to round out the month. While the road trip is a bit daunting, the Hawks can’t afford to get caught tonight looking ahead. It’s best to work out the kinks and fix your flaws in November... when you don’t have Everybody Looking.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3