Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Atlanta Hawks got trounced over in Dallas on Saturday and tonight they are looking to lure the Mavericks into their home court where they can pounce unexpectedly. The Hawks are hoping the Mavericks have been lulled into a false sense of confidence and that tonight, redemption will come to Atlanta. In the meantime, rumors swirl that the Hawks are looking to move Walker.
In Saturday's game, Atlanta had its lowest point total of the season, scoring just 68 points. Antoine Walker led the way with just 13 points. Nevertheless, the Hawks front office is thinking about moving Walker for the third time in the past fourteen months to try to accomplish two things: get draft picks, and move Al Harrington to the power forward spot.
With Walker claiming all the four-spot time, Harrington has had to play the three. He is versatile enough to handle either forward position but Atlanta would like to move him to his more natural position at the power forward.
Perhaps they should consider Dallas's move last season of playing Walker at center.
Meanwhile, Walker was sent home before practice yesterday with flu-like symptoms which the team thinks is the same bug that kept Kevin Willis from playing on Saturday. So it's possible Atlanta fans will see what the post-trade lineup looks like tonight in a sneak preview.
NEXT GAME
The Hawks (4-20, fifth in the Southeast) host the Dallas Mavericks (17-9, second in the Southwest) TONIGHT at 7:30pm Eastern. The game will be broadcast on FSO and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
The All-Star nominations are out, and Hawks players Antoine Walker, Al Harrington and Peja Drobnjak are on the ballots. Want to see them in the 2004-05 All-Star contest? Don't forget tocast your votefor your favorite players now. So far none of those players are among the top 10 vote-getters in their categories, but a couple hundred thousand clicks could change that overnight.
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INJURY UPDATE
Chris Crawford(torn ACL) is out for the season and on the injured list.Donta Smith(back) is also on the injured list.
Eddie Sefko ofThe Dallas Morning Newswrites: Two Mavericks will be going back to the place where they played their entire careers before this season, but it won't be a teary-eyed return.Alan Henderson played his first nine seasons with the Hawks. Jason Terry had five years in Atlanta before both were traded in the summer to the Mavericks. So will it be emotional? "Not really; I just hope we win again," Henderson said. "I'm sure they're going to try to have a better game than they did in Dallas. "There's only two players on the active roster who were there when I was there. It's not like we're going back to see the old team." Or the old coaching staff, which was dumped so that Mike Woodson could bring in his own staff.
Karen Rosen ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constiitutionwrites: Hawks forward Antoine Walker was sent home before practice Tuesday with a slight fever and flu-like symptoms. Head athletic trainer Wally Blase said he expects Walker to play Wednesday night against Dallas and believes he has the same 24-hour bug that prevented Kevin Willis from playing against the Mavericks on Saturday. If Walker, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, has to sit out the game, coach Mike Woodson would go with a small lineup.He would probably shift Al Harrington, the only player besides Walker to start all 24 games, to power forward and put Tony Delk at starting point guard.
Jon Cooper ofHawks.comwrites: When the Hawks acquired Tony Delk from Dallas last Aug. 4, they knew they were getting a pure scorer with tremendous range.In back-to-back games in early December, Delk showed just how tremendous that range is, putting in buzzer-beaters from beyond half court. That type of long-distance shooting is a bonus to the Hawks, who are just happy to see Delk on the floor, after he missed the first three weeks of the season because of lingering pain in his right knee. Getting back into NBA shape was neither easy nor quick for the Atlanta guard.