RUMOR: Jeff McInnis just connected on a 3-point shot, the Hawks are down by 36 again.

The Atlanta Hawks sure could use one of those Neuralyzers from Men in Black, after the Cleveland Cavaliers…

BREAKING: Boobie Gibson has just hit a 3 to expand Cleveland’s lead on the Hawks. Keyshia Cole set the screen.

…dragged ATL all across the Quicken Loans Arena floor on a Knight-jumps-Queen, Bishop-jumps-Queen, Pawns-jump-Queen kind of Saturday night. The good news is that when the Cavs finally cooled off a bit they found themselves losing last night to lowly Denver, and the Hawks can eke past them in the conference standings once again with a victory tonight against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Time Warner Cable SportsNet).

As an added salve, the Hawks are getting a good bit of rest with seven days off over a nine-day pre-Thanksgiving stretch and no road trips. We will get to see if the Hawks spend this time tweaking their defensive gameplan to keep from getting roasted like the turkeys that showed up on Saturday.

One could argue David Blatt beat Mike Budenholzer at his own game. The Cavs first 11 treys in the first half hit nylon, and the shell-shocked Hawks…

THIS JUST IN: Delonte West just hit a 3, and is triumphantly leaving the arena with one of the players’ mamas on an ATV.

… would go on to miss 19 of their 22 tries, while Cleveland finished the evening shooting 19-for-31 (a franchise-high in makes) from downtown. Kyle Korver’s mini-Threak was thwarted after 8 games when Budenholzer gave him most of the night off following 14 ineffective minutes, leaving John Jenkins (12 points) out there for garbage duty. The Cavs laid off of the mid-range shots and had little trouble finding the shots they wanted, whether around the rim or along the perimeter.

Al Horford shot 6-for-10 in his return to Cleveland after getting injured there last season, but he settled too often for shots at the elbow when he was having his way around the rim. He and Paul Millsap (two free throws in a combined 47 minutes) have to mix it up inside against opposing bigs to draw more attention and contact. With a balanced offensive attack, Mike Muscala (5-for-8 FGs, 2-for-3 FTs, 13 points and 4 blocks in 22 minutes) showed why he may be steadily eating into Pero Antić’s floor time.

Jeff Teague was getting inside, but not making shots (2-for-8 shooting, 1-for-5 in the paint). A lack of focus from the backcourt players allowed Blatt’s troops to key in on Atlanta’s perimeter shooters and force the Hawks to settle for mid-range jumpers. Atlanta shot 14-for-24 on 2FGs from 12-feet-and-out, but that was just a case of jogging briskly in Cleveland’s quicksand.

Perhaps in a nod to Sherman’s army from 150 years prior, opposing ballhandlers have been blazing unencumbered to the bucket, finding open teammates ready to finish plays without much resistance from Atlanta. Roughly 80 percent of Cleveland’s field goals were assisted (39 Cav assists, 13 turnovers), keeping the Hawks at an NBA-high 27.8 opponent assists per game, a value now significantly higher than pass-happy Atlanta’s own 25.1 per game. Even without DeMarre Carroll (groin, out for tonight’s action) around, the Hawks’ guards and wings must be less passive and more disruptive, denying desired spots on the floor and forcing tougher passes from their opponents.

As for Tinseltown, the Lakers’ coach is cussing and boorish, his team struggles to make stops, players are low-key pointing fingers at each other, and the star is in full shrug mode. Who could have possibly seen this coming???

The once-proud Purple-and-Gold is tarnished by a league-high 112.1 PPG (55.9 opponent eFG%, 2^nd-highest in NBA). The defensive approach seems to consist heavily on allowing deep post position then fouling to force opponents to make hay at the free throw line (NBA-high 29.6 opponent FTAs/game).

New Lakers coach Byron Scott expressed a need for his frontcourt defense (60.7 opponent FG% at-rim, slightly worse than the Clippers and Hawks) to tighten up, prompting free agent forward Carlos Boozer to crow, “It’s not just the bigs.” Booz is right about that, as opponents are connecting on 41.7% of their threes (3^rd-highest in NBA). Still, the lack of defensive proficiency up front (including Boozer and Atlanta native Jordan Hill) is pressing Scott to consider putting Ed Davis in the starting lineup. Arriving in free agency after being underutilized by Memphis, Davis (65.1 FG%, 3^rd in NBA; 1.7 BPG, 10^th in NBA) is the sole Laker showing a consistent level of hyperactivity on both ends of the floor.

That the Lakers (1-9) have been so bad has at least as much to do with sickness as suckiness. Steve Nash concluded his season prematurely after lifting some luggage. Nick Young put in his thumb while reaching at Kobe in practice and pulled out a torn ligament. Lotto prize Julius Randle broke his leg in his debut. Wayne Ellington missed time to start the year and is currently out on bereavement leave. Ryan Kelly sat out the start of the season, and then played three games before finding a tear in his hamstring. A team as fundamentally flawed as the Lakers needs as close to a full complement around Kobe as possible to compete over 82 games.

More mucked up than the La Brea Tar Pits, the drowning Lake Show has turned to Kobe to save the day, every day. While Vino has obliged with a vintage 27.8 PPG (1^st in NBA), he is taking more shots per-36 than he did as a 27-year-old (career-high 35.4 PPG in 2005-06) when he carried Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom and friends into the 2006 NBA Playoffs. Some of these shots, though, are as ill-advised as his K.O.B.E. rap career, as he’s coming into tonight shooting a career-low 37.7 FG%.

Kobe plopped down 44 of the Lakers’ 115 points (on 50 shots, free throws included) on Sunday night at Staples Center. But his teammates could only muster 37 percent shooting from the floor (0-for-14 3FGs) while the team conceded 136 points to the Warriors. “If you think I want to shoot this many times and be as aggressive at 36 years old, you’re freaking crazy,” Bryant quipped, perhaps the sole instance of someone choosing the verb “freaking” at a Lakers postgame presser.

The Hawks must keep the Black Mamba (9.0 FTAs/game, 3^rd in NBA) from slithering his way to the free throw line. It may not be the best idea to stick ex-Laker Kent Bazemore on Kobe for any significant period of time, unless perhaps it's garbage time. Even so, Baze (29.1 TS%, 9.9 assist%, 20.9 TO%) needs to become more effective on the offensive end before he can earn meaningful playing time.

If Kobe graces Atlanta with an off-night, who’s left to bail the Lakers out? Have no fear: Swaggy P is here! "Get your popcorn ready," Nick Young declared about his impending return, invoking the memory of someone well known for supporting locker-room cohesion. Young has been restless to return to the floor following what was arguably a career-season (17.9 PPG) in 2013-14, and has recuperated his shooting hand ahead of schedule. Scott would probably love to replace Wesley Johnson with Young in the starting lineup alongside Kobe, but with Jeremy Lin, Boozer and Hill already on the top line, Young needs to remain a reserve to keep the Lakers from giving up 120 points every night.

Serving as Bryant’s point guard in the absence of a well-organized offense must be among the most thankless positions in the Association, as Lin (11.7 PPG and 43.2 FG%, career-lows as a starter; 4.4 APG, 2.6 TOs/game) can attest. 2014 second-rounder Jordan Clarkson came back from a quick D-League stint to put in a career-high 10 points (mostly free throws) versus G-State, and Scott may be upping his minutes so someone aside from Ronnie Price (4.4 APG, 1.1 TOs/game, 26.2 FG%) can alleviate Lin from the point guard duties.

There will likely be plenty of Kobefans in the building tonight, and that’s understandable, as there’s no certainty No. 24 will have many more big-time scoring nights in Atlanta. But the Hawks can absorb a grand performance from Bryant (and Young, and Lin) and still cruise to victory, so long as they’re not still shook from Saturday’s blitzkrieg that even had Austin Carr wanting in on the action. Even after made baskets, the Hawks must pick up the pace and exploit a Laker team that gives up an NBA-high 17.5 PPG on fastbreaks. Push the pace, execute on offense, and find ways to be disruptive without fouling on defense, and the Laker fans at Philips can sit back and enjoy another Pyrrhic victory of Kobe going for 40.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3