| 2012/2013 NBA Regular Season: Game 19 | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
vs |  |
| December 5, 2012, 6:00 PM (MT) | ||
| Philips Arena – Hotlanta, GA | ||
| TV Altitude or ESPN / 950 AM / 104.3 FM The Fan | ||
| Probable Starters | ||
| Ty Lawson | PG | Jeff Teague |
| Andre Iguodala | SG | Devin Harris |
| Danilo Gallinari | SF | DeShawn Stevenson (?) |
| Kenneth Faried | PF | Josh Smith |
| Timofey Mozgov (?) | C | Al Horford |
| Notes | ||
| Yo, you already here! | Blogs | Peachtree Hoops – preview up |
| Chandler, Stone (out) | Injuries | Korver (doubtful), Stevenson (game time decision) |
| Faried is averaing 4.8 offensive rebs. | Stat | Josh Smith leads team with 16.1 ppg this season. |
The Hawks re-tooled their lineup, sans Joe Johnson, with Kyle Korver (Bulls), Lou Williams (76ers), Devin Harris (Jazz), DeShawn Stevenson (Nets), Anthony Morrow (Nets), and former Nugget and fellow countryman of Evan Fournier – Johan Petro. Nobody messes with the Johan! Only Petro is the odd man out of the new guys in the Hawks’ rotation.
Hawks head coach Larry Drew is worried about Denver’s big men and how they attack the offensive glass. The Nuggets should be concerned with the three-point shooting of the Hawks; who rank 7th in the NBA in three-point percentage at 37.3-percent. The good news for Denver? Korver and Stevenson might be out of the lineup tonight.
Faried will have his hands full with Josh Smith – yet another stretch four. The Nuggets are likely better off with Smith and even Horford taking jumpers than they are if those two get their inside game going. And as Ben Hochman of the Denver Post reported, Kosta Koufos might miss tonight’s contest as he’s sick.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Kosta Koufos is ill.. He’s not here at shootaround in ATL and is game time decision .. Mozzy would prob start</p>— Benjamin Hochman (@nuggetsnews) <a href=”https://twitter.com/nuggetsnews/status/276371002722750465″ data-datetime=”2012-12-05T17:02:36+00:00″>December 5, 2012</a></blockquote>
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This could mean a start for Timofey Mozgov. The Russian’s confidence should be at a pretty high level as he defeated coach Patrick Mutombo in a one-on-one battle after practice yesterday in Denver. Moz even showed off some dunking skills against Mutombo as the two completed an off the floor, catch, and dunk. And Moz completed a couple 360-jams as well.
Mozgov vs. Patrick Mutombo – lots of foul calls from both parties.
George Karl was confident about this road trip at the post-game presser after the Raptors game and said he expects a successful venture away from the Pepsi Center. No better way to kick things off than to get a quality win against a well-rested Hawks team.
Views you can use:
-The Hawks, like the Knicks, have stolen a page from the Karl playbook: THEY START TWO POINT GUARDS! The Knicks have been starting Ray Felton and Jason Kidd and the Hawks go with Jeff Teague and Devin Harris. Karl’s play-making lineups are catching on around the league.
-The Hawks with be playing their 15th game of the season tonight and their 9th home game. The Nuggets will be playing their 19th game and their 13th road game. Atlanta has not played since Friday, Nov. 30th when they lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-111.
-The Hawks have wins this season over the Thunder (104-95), Pacers (89-86), and Clippers (104-93). Not too shabby at all!
