Following a horrendous road trip, the Atlanta Hawks return to the comfier confines of Philips Arena and are likely to kiss the floor when they arrive. Zaza Pachulia and Head Coach Larry Drew of the Milwaukee Bucks may very well join the Hawks in the floor-smooching festivities tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Wisconsin).

A rousing ovation is likely for one of the most endeared Atlanta Hawks of the past decade. More than a few golf claps will also be in order for the last coach to lug the Hawks (27-35) into the NBA postseason.

The Republic of Georgia native happily remains a State of Georgia resident. Zaza still maintains a home and many of his business affairs here in the 404. Pachulia will get to soak in some pregame cheers as a Bucks starter, but this was certainly not the role he signed up for when he joined Drew in Milwaukee this summer. This ain’t exactly the way Larry drew things up, either.

For the Bucks (13-51), their ability to contend this season was based on a lot of “ifs”. If contract-extended Larry Sanders could maintain his professional composure, if free agent pickup O.J. Mayo was inspired to become a consistent scorer, if Ersan Ilyasova could be an efficient shooter, if offseason acquisition Brandon Knight could improve by leaps and bounds, if Carlos Delfino could contribute in a meaningful way, if veterans Caron Butler, Gary Neal, and Luke Ridnour could stay patient while youngsters Knight, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nate Wolters, John Henson, and Khris Middleton all cut their teeth and work their way into Drew’s rotation…

Well, that all de-escalated quickly. Now, they’re the worst team in the league, still two games behind a Philadelphia 76ers team that has dropped 18 in a row, and playing their third game in four nights today.

Sanders got about a month-and-a-half of hoops action following the embarrassment of the nightclub incident. One game after dropping 25 and 15, he broke a bone in his eye socket, and will be out indefinitely. Without Sanders for much of the year, Pachulia has been pressed into heavy minutes, leading to a broken foot that sidelined him for a couple months. Delfino was declared done for the season from the start, after undergoing preseason foot surgery.

Wisconsin native Butler got downright petulant with his minutes dwindling, and now he’s on the outs along with Neal and Ridnour. Mayo lost his starting gig in mid-December, essentially handed by Drew to rookie second-rounder Nate Wolters, and hasn’t earned it back. Ilyasova was probably the worst-shooting NBA starter prior to the All-Star Break. As the losses pile up without any “sense of urgency”, LD is trying to ensure his initials won’t stand for “Lame Duck”, seeking the optimal starting lineup to help the Bucks win back-to-back games at least once this season.

The concept of tanking brings forth its own set of unique challenges for GM Jon Hammond in Brewtown. If their top pick morphs into a can’t-miss forward, what does that do to the development plans for the Greek Freak, Antetokounmpo, or Middleton or Henson? If the injured Joel Embiid falls into their lap with a top pick, is he the next Kenyon Martin in the making? And what trade value would the moody Sanders, recipient of an $8 million raise next season, hold if Embiid can’t play alongside him? Would the Bucks dare to reach for a steadier point guard, and compel Knight to come off the bench? All in all, it’s hard to tell if the guys on the floor for Milwaukee are part of the team’s immediate future, or if they’re merely showcasing themselves for their next employer.

There are silver linings to be found, if you dig deep for them. Ilyasova (starting tonight after missing Tuesday’s loss due to a sore right ankle) has recovered from early-season back issues and has improved immensely since the All-Star Break. Although his long-range jumper is still broken, he’s averaging 14.4 PPG and 7.6 RPG while shooting 51% from the floor since the break -- 16 PPG, 8 RPG, and 53.7 FG% this month.

While Mayo has been occupied with serving up throat punches to random stiffs, Knight has emerged as the scorer the Bucks thought they were getting out of Mayo, averaging 20.1 PPG and 5.2 APG (44.9 FG%) since the break and blending better in the backcourt alongside Wolters (41.0 FG% and 18.4 3FG% pre-break; 50.4 FG% and 41.2 3FG% post-break).

Middleton can occasionally get hot from deep, and seems to have locked down a starting spot while shooting 50.0 3FG% in his last ten games. Antetokounmpo is good for the occasional highlight to keep Bucks fans awake. Zaza is known to get fancy with the rock when it fancies him, and dished out a career-high 10 assists during the loss at Minnesota on Tuesday night, the Bucks shooting 52.7 FG% in the game.

All of that would be encouraging if the Bucks could figure out how to stop anybody. The only team with a worse defensive rating than Milwaukee (107.7 opponent points per 100 possessions, 29^th in NBA)? The last opponent the Hawks barely vanquished, the Utah Jazz (108.0 defensive rating). Atlanta actually has a worse per-game average (102.6, 2^nd worst in the East) than Milwaukee (102.5), but that’s because the Hawks play at a significantly higher pace than the Bucks (94.3 possessions per 48 minutes, 24^th in NBA).

With the athletes they do have on the roster, it is a wonder that the Bucks show little exuberance (Larry would say, "energy") in securing defensive boards (71.2 defensive rebounding percentage, 29^th in NBA) or going after the ball when it's on the floor (6.9 steals per 100 possessions, 28^th in NBA).

If Bucks assistant Nick Van Exel is doing his job, Knight should have a pretty detailed scouting report on how to play Nick’s former protégé, Jeff Teague. Teague sat out the January 25^th laugher in Milwaukee with an ankle sprain. Knight had 27 points, but was essentially picked apart on defense against Shelvin Mack and the recently-invisible Lou Williams (combined 27 points, 9 assists, 3 TOs).

Despite Danny Ferry's recent comments about the Hawks consequentially playing "too small" in explaining LouWill's benchings lately, he may get back into the mix tonight. (UPDATE: Lou's out tonight, it appears for personal reasons, as per C-Viv). He is hopefully rested enough The Hawks will need another sound performance from Mack to match up against drive-first point guard Ramon Sessions, acquired by the Bucks at the trade deadline along with Jeff Adreian for Neal and Ridnour.

The Hawks will be emboldened to know that the lackadaisical defense by Milwaukee on opposing passers isn’t balanced by pressure on shooters, either. Bucks’ opponents shoot an NBA-high 38.6 percent from three-point range, including 41.9 percent from the corners. Atlanta hit half of their 26 shots on the Bucks on January 25, and made 25 of a whopping 57 three-point shots in their last two games against Utah and the Clippers.

In his grand return, Zaza deserves an honorary double-double by putting back at least ten of his own missed layups, and his matchups with his Euro-replacement Pero Antić should be fun to watch. If Atlanta can keep every Buck besides Zaza from getting rebounds, and keep Zaza from turning into Al Jefferson out there, they’ll be able to keep Milwaukee at arm’s length. The Bucks are 1-30 when they tally 40 or fewer rebounds in a game.

Go Hawks!

~lw3