Here comes the Suns! And I say, it’s alright.

With the rest of America still oddly focused on the hampered mobility of some dude from Los Angeles, the Atlanta Hawks are moving on. They will try to improve their playoff standing by exacting a measure of revenge (no need to wait for a year) against a Phoenix Suns team that tripped them up on March 1, right when the Hawks were in the midst of a nice confidence-building winning streak. It’s taken almost two weeks for the Hawks to fully recover and, darn it all, it’s all the Suns’ fault!

Well, not really. Similar to the case with the gentleman from Tinseltown, an objective observer would suggest the Hawks’ wounds in that last meeting with the Suns were clearly self-inflicted. Horrendous shooting decisions from Josh Smith and Jeff Teague (5-for-21 together), a pile of turnovers from that duo plus Devin Harris (16 of the Hawks’ 20), and repeated failures to slow Goran Dragic (19 points, 8-for-15 shooting) on drives or close out on then-reserve Wesley Johnson at the perimeter all combined to crumple Atlanta’s chances to make a comeback.

Teague (ankle) and Smith (mind) both participated in shootaround this morning, and must be more effective out of the gate for the Hawks to seize control of this game.

Coach Hunter was emboldened enough by the March 1 game, at the time the Suns’ third straight victory, to move Wesley Johnson, and both Marcus and Markieff Morris, into the starting lineup, finally unseating P.J. Tucker along with Jared Dudley. The latter bickered loudly with Hunter and Luis Scola during the third quarter of the Hawks game, and apparently got the short end of that dispute.

Whichever Hawks get tagged for the starting power forward and center spots need to go hard at the Suns like Icarus. During a 111-81 blowout of the Suns, the Rockets’ “Donuts” Motiejunas went off for a career-high 19 points on Wednesday against a Phoenix frontline that had Luis Scola at center and the Morris Twins at the forward spots. Phoenix had no answers for another spry seven-foot player, Kosta Koufos, who got his double-double (22 points and 10 boards) on Monday. Johan Petro (10 points and 11 rebounds vs. LAL) has been a solid contributor in his past two starts for Atlanta, and deserves another chance to shine tonight.

Scola has been manning the middle because Marcin Gortat’s sore foot may keep him sidelined for at least the rest of this month. Perhaps bewaring the Ivans of March, Coach Hunter may look to veteran Jermaine O’Neal to get his first start this year. Jerm Daddy missed four games while tending to his ill daughter (heart surgery), then returned to log 23 minutes against Houston. Hamed Haddadi (nine blocks in his last four games) is getting steadier minutes for the first time in his five-year career, and will be brought in to keep Atlanta’s halfcourt offense from becoming a layup drill.

Bringing Scola closer to the rim hasn’t made him any more of an offensive threat. He’s had no more than two field goals in any of his last three games, and seems only to be effective when he can get opponents in foul trouble and get shots from the free throw line (87.9 FT% in his last ten games).

Monica may consider changing her stage name to include her surname, which apparently is DNP-CD. Mister DNP-CD, Shannon Brown has been called off the bench one time in the past month, for less than eight minutes in a loss to Denver on Monday. Instead of the summer 2012 free agent, Hunter appears to be going with rookie Kendall Marshall, who had ten points and a career-high six assists against the Rockets on Wednesday, and was part of the reserve crew (with the Morrises, Wesley Johnson, and O’Neal) that held serve against the Hawks in the fourth quarter of their March 1 victory.

There are few players of similar talent, offensively, that have been pushed to the margins, on a bad team, as firmly as Brown. If he does play, the Hawks will need tight defense to keep the Caged Tiger Syndrome that bites them periodically (Nate Robinson, Jeremy Pargo) from wreaking havoc once again.

His Thursday night Buckhead party notwithstanding, Dahntay Jones has likely had a rough 36 hours in the public eye. If he makes an appearance, it would be nice for the crowd, likely to be heavily pro-Hawks fans tonight, to offer up some cheers.

Go Hawks!

~lw3