Friday Night Lights at the Highlight Factory! Our Atlanta Hawks hope to keep the good end-of-workweek vibes going strong tonight against the Utah Jazz (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Root Sports Rocky Mountain).

Former Hawk Ty Corbin is 0-3 coaching his charges against the Hawks (14-12), who seek to extend their Friday game-winning streak to 7-0 this season. Despite giving up over 100 points in their last three games, Atlanta has given up just 93.7 PPG to opponents on Friday nights (42.5 opponent FG%; 29.3 opponent 3FG%).

The Hawks are now 11-4 after one day of rest, defeating the L.A. Lakers and Sacramento in the first two games of their three-game homestand with Western Conference visitors passing through. With a victory tonight versus Utah (7-21, last in the Western Conference), the Hawks can join the Pacers and HEAT as the only Eastern teams with at least a .500 record against the mighty West (Atlanta currently stands at 5-6). Atlanta exceeded 100 points in nine of their first ten games this season, and has a chance tonight to duplicate the feat over their last ten games, following a seven-game dry spell where they failed to surpass 96 points.

It will be a reunion/homecoming, of sorts, for members of both teams. Last April, Paul Millsap concluded his seven-year Jazz tenure in the club’s top ten for rebounds, steals, and blocked shots. DeMarre Carroll emerged by his second season in Salt Lake City to become an energizing fan-favorite, helping the Jazz make a late-season charge to finish within a hair’s breadth of the 2013 playoffs. And back in 2010, Kyle Korver’s final season as a Jazzman concluded by snapping Steve Kerr’s all-time NBA record for three-point accuracy in a season (53.6 3FG%).

Currently the league leader with 70.0 true shooting percentage and 68.9 effective field goal percentage, Korver comes into tonight’s contest threatening even that all-time 3FG% mark he set with the Jazz. He ranks second in the NBA with 51.2% sniping on threes, bolstered by that dazzling display in the second half against the Kings. He’s trailed not very far by Millsap, surprising many as a 43.4 3FG% shooter so far this season (16^th in NBA).

On the other end of the floor, the pride of South Atlanta High and Georgia Tech, Derrick Favors, is the Jazz’s leading rebounder (9.2 RPG) and shot blocker (1.6 RPG). He’s no longer stuck as a reserve behind Al Jefferson and Millsap, who he matched last year with 7.1 RPG despite averaging seven fewer minutes per game in a backup role. Favors ranks 5^th in the league with 3.5 personal fouls per game, and much like NBA-leading hacker DeMarcus Cousins on Wednesday, Favors will have to be careful with his hands to keep himself and the Jazz (47.0 opponent FG%, 29^th in NBA; 110.1 opponent points per 100 possessions, worst in NBA) in the game.

The last time Naismith Award winner Trey Burke was in this zip code, it was an underwhelming experience. He came up small in the Final Four semifinals for Michigan, then after sitting with foul trouble in the first half, was the victim of a controversial foul call when he blocked Louisville’s Peyton Siva near the close of the title game.

Those disappointing memories behind him, Burke comes back to Atlanta surging up the Rookie of the Year ladder. Burke carried the Jazz on Wednesday to a win in Orlando, with 7 rebounds and 8 assists accompanying his early-career high of 30 points. The superb David Locke and other Jazz media commentators noted that Burke joined LeBron, KD, Love, Lillard, and Jamal as the only players to hang 30/8/7 on somebody this year, and was the first rookie to notch those numbers during the first 20 games of his career since Alvan Adams back in 1975.

With Burke having missed the first half of this season to repair a fractured index finger, Utah just needs him to reach a level of consistency, especially against good teams like Miami, where he shot just 1-for-8 on Monday and finished with just three points and four assists. Totaling just three steals in his last six games, Burke needs to be disruptive and key the transition game against Jeff Teague, an author of back-to-back double-doubles in the two Hawk games who is crawling out of a shooting funk.

Of course, there’s just no ducking Marvin Williams’ importance to the Jazz’s meager success this season. He’s been banged on and banged up all year, donning a mask after breaking his beak in mid-November. Yet he insists he is feeling way better than last season, when his play deteriorated as he struggled with Achilles pain throughout the year, addressed via offseason surgery.

Williams has settled into his 3-and-D role, although now as a power forward. He’s now unafraid to communicate and direct teammates on defense, and is connecting on a career-high 2.3 threes per game (39.5 3FG% and 51.3 2FG%, also career-highs so far). Utah’s no duck dynasty yet, but since moving back into the starting lineup last month, when Williams is not bothered by his heel, Utah has won six of those ten games, with losses only coming at the hands of the Spurs, Heat, Thunder, and Suns.

Even though they were absent Arron Afflalo on Wednesday, Orlando was likely caught off-guard by Utah’s miserable-looking 7-21 record. But as Locke noted, they’re really 6-4 when they have their top players healthy. They’ve won three of their last five, all on the road, and have wins against Houston, Denver, and Phoenix under their belts.

The straw that stirs the Jazz’s drink is Gordon Hayward, and man, is the fourth-year man doing a lot of stirring. The team’s leading scorer (16.8 PPG) is second only to Klay Thompson in NBA minutes played this season. Player tracking data shows Hayward has logged a league-leading 72.8 miles moving around the floor so far this year, 2.2 more miles than anyone else. He was doing a little bit of everything to try and keep the Jazz afloat at the start of the season, but now he can play a little more to his strengths. Utah is 4-1 when Hayward gets to the line more than six times in a game, 3-1 when he nets more than 25 points.

Burke’s presence in the offensive gameplan frees up not only Hayward but also players like reserve guard Alec Burks, who is shooting 50% on field goals (16.4 PPG) this month after struggling mightily to find the rim in November (10.1 PPG on 37.3 FG%). In a losing cause, Burke came off the bench Monday to drop 31 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals on the HEAT in Miami.

While Favors has been reasonably steady for the Jazz in his new starting role, center Enes Kanter has struggled of late, in-and-out of the starting lineup and down below 20 minutes per contest while playing through back and ankle issues. Starting the season averaging 18.6 PPG and 9.2 RPG, he’s shot 8-for-28 in his last four games (4.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG), the notable exception being a 14-and-8 contribution in just 17 minutes against the HEAT. Going forward, the challenge for Corbin is to get several of his most talented players performing well at the same time.

Left for dead by the Warriors and cast aside with his $11 million contract, Richard Jefferson is back in an NBA starting lineup. Calling himself a “gun for hire” once his contract expires next summer, the 33-year old with infamously cold feet is playing in hopes of attracting a championship contender to bid for his services, limited as they are. He’s still shooting threes at about a 40% clip while averaging 9.7 PPG, the most for him since 2010-11 with the Spurs. Jefferson and little-used Andris Biedrins take home over a third of the team’s salary, but at least RJ is trying to make himself useful on the way out the door.

Korver will be licking his chops against a Jazz defense that’s been giving up corner three-pointers at a league-high 50.0 3FG% rate this month.

On the other end, it should be noted that the Hawks have been giving up a league-low 3.1 three-pointers above-the-break in December (27.5 opponent ATB 3FG%, third-lowest in NBA), down significantly from 5.9 (35.5 3FG%) last month. The 44.3% on corner threes (2.7 per game) opponents shot in November is down to 33.3% (2.2 per game) so far this month.

Where foes are making their hay, however, is not so much on the interior, where shots and points are up slightly, but on mid-range shots outside the paint. This month, Atlanta gives up a league-leading 12.3 field goals per game on a league-high 29.5 attempts (41.5 FG%, 6^th in NBA).

It may be part of the evolving defensive strategy to tighten up the perimeter with forwards and force tougher shots, an approach that can pay dividends if they can find balance with the defensive rebounding. The Hawks’ defensive rebounding percentage dropped from 77.0% in November games (3^rd in NBA) to 73.2% (21^st in NBA). Elton Brand’s role off the bench (team-leading 26.8 defensive rebounding %) is crucial in that regard.

Go Hawks!

~lw3