[Thanks to Orange Juice for today's game preview. We need previewers for the next couple of weeks, so sign up if interested. Game Thread up at 6:35. -yfbb]

Last time the Bulls were in Atlanta they were blown out. Last game the Bulls played they were blown out. So I'm expecting the Bulls to be doubly amped up for this game tonight ... will they keep the "no back-to-back losses this season" streak alive?

Yes, I would bet on it; Hawks are coming off a hard-fought loss to the Bucks last night and had that crazy 4OT game on Sunday. The oldest team in the NBA is probably a bit tired. Bulls have usually played well after a loss this season. But anything can happen in the NBA.

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[Thanks to Orange Juice for today's game preview. We'll make this the initial game thread too, next one at 7:30 -ed.]

Question: Where are all the Bulls fans in Atlanta at?

Answer: They are everywhere, and at Philips Arena later tonight, the Bulls fans will cheer and the Hawks fans will boooooooo.

Mon, Jan 2 @ Miami W 100-92
Tue, Jan 3 @ Chicago L 76-74
Thu, Jan 5 vs Miami L 116-109 3OT
Fri, Jan 6 @ Charlotte W 102-96 OT
Sat, Jan 7 vs Chicago ?

What a crazy week it has been for the Hawks. And what's even crazier, if they were better coached and had more mental toughness, they would've been 4-0 heading into tonight.

It's great for the Bulls that the Hawks are coming off of back-to-back overtime games, and that they are in fact the 2nd oldest team in the NBA - surprising given their perception as a young team, but outside of their starters minus Joe Johnson, everyone else is pretty much in their early 30's. And their rookie Ivan Johnson, who we will probably see play decent minutes because of his recent breakout game, is 27 years old (he's badass though).

Atlanta has athleticism and talent, but they're forever trapped in playoff mediocrity because Josh Smith continues to shoot jumpers, someone is grossly overpaid as a max player, Al Horford is playing center instead of PF, someone was drafted ahead of CP3/DWill, and their coach still sucks - does that pretty much sum it up Hawks fans?

I think the keys to this game are to jump out to an early lead, make them mentally give up because they will be physically tired, and not shoot 2 for 21 in the 2nd quarter. I have a feeling they will play a lot more zone than usual - to save energy of course, but also because it worked against the Heat (the first time) and the Bulls last time.

It'll be interesting to see how Thibs prepared the team to play against the zone this time ... if Korver can carry over his hot shooting from last night, the zone-busting lineup should be the lineup that finished the game against the Magic: Rose, Korver, Deng, Boozer, and Gibson.

Excited to be going to the game, repping the DRose jersey of course, waving to Captain Kirk, and shouting "All-Star" at Luol Deng!

[Thanks to Orange Juice for today's game preview. Bulls get a bit fortunate if indeed Josh Smith is out. Another early start, 6pm on THE U -ed.]

There are two teams the Bulls haven't beaten this season: the Knicks and the Hawks. The Bulls will play the new-look Knicks in April (Game #81), and are going to play the Hawks for the first time tonight.

The Hawks will be without Atlanta native Josh Smith, who sprained his right knee against the Nuggets on Monday, but they will have Kirk Hinrich back tonight. And apparently Kirk will make his ATL debut in the starting lineup (it was a matter of time, Teague has been horrible) and he will be joined by Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Al Horford, and Jason Collins. The Hawks have found some success with this bigger lineup, as it allows Horford to play his true position as a PF, but Collins is a big sexy wannabe, so will Thibs hide Boozer on Collins and let Noah guard his ex-college teammate?

(A side note - I think every team in the East should thank the Hawks front office for selecting a fat ass (literally, you can't miss it) with the #2 pick instead of CP3 or DWill. Can you imagine what the Hawks would be like with a top 3 point guard? They wouldn't be stuck in the 2nd round of the playoffs.)

The Bulls are coming off perhaps their most dominant victory of the season, but give credit to the Wizards for playing horribly. Obviously this will be a closer game (a white mamba sighting is unlikely) but the Hawks will miss J-Smoove as he really brings a lot of intangibles in addition to his defense and highlight factory dunks. Still, they have reigning sixth man of the year Jamal Crawford coming off the bench as well as fan favorite Zaza Pachulia, so the Bulls second unit needs to continue to play well. This will be a chance for DRose to show Kirk how much he has improved since last season.

Oh I should also mention Deng, who is forever underrated as I always say and deserves a shout-out, especially since he has been playing well.

Would be great to kick of a three-game beat-the-East-playoff-teams stretch (that gets progressively tougher) with a win in the dirty south!

[Thanks to 'Orange Juice' for today's game preview -ed.]

So the last time the Bulls were in Atlanta, they were coming off a loss to the (still) lowly Nets and I was not very pumped to go to the game.

This time around, things are looking much better ... the Bulls recently came back from a great road trip winning 5 straight, Derrick Rose made the All-Star Team (I will be repping his jersey tonight!), and I got a sweet ticket deal that puts the jacked up UC ticket prices to shame. I'm so pumped ...

... well, not exactly. Of course the Bulls had to lose two in a row coming into tonight's game, and Noah is out until after the All-Star Break. It sucks that he won't get a chance to outplay All-Star Al Horford, who is not an All-Star (except for the fact that the coaches "had" to fill a reserve center spot). Anyone who watches the Hawks knows that Josh Smith deserved to be that 2nd All-Star after Joe Johnson. And even Jamal Crawford, future sixth-man of the year, merited more consideration.

So while I don't think we're gonna get blown out like last time, I'm not very optimistic about a Bulls win tonight. The Hawks have a top 5 league home record (20-5), coming off a day's rest after beating the Clippers at home (something we couldn't do earlier this week), and no Noah to run with the athletic Hawks hurts.

But here's to hoping Tyrus plays more, goes at it with fellow athletic freak Josh Smith, perhaps in a duel of future All-Stars? Haha wouldn't that be a trip. Looking forward to an aggressive DRose taking it to Bibby and Crawford, who both can't play defense. Maybe Chris Richard can neutralize his old Florida teammate Horford. And we'll all be watching to see if Joe Johnson (who's coming off two 30-pt games) is really worth pursuing as a FA this offseason.

Who do we want to play in the first round? Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, or ... Atlanta?

[Note by your friendly BullsBlogger, 12/09/09 3:20 PM CST: Hinrich may play tonight. ]

[Thanks to 'Orange Juice' for today's game preview -ed.]

I bought tickets to the game tonight when they went on sale in September, and now I'm trying to convince myself to still go. I also did not envision doing this game preview after a loss to the Nets. But it is what it is, and we're only one game out of the playoffs - not sure if this is a positive or a negative, I mean all we need are a few ping-pong balls..

Meanwhile, the Hawks have separated themselves from the rest of the East and are hanging out with the top three in the standings. They're coming off a three-day layoff after beating the Mavs in Dallas, so maybe they will be rusty and disinterested to start the game. And they know we lost to the Nets last night, so maybe that helps too?

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Hilarious take on last night's wild pickup game from the other side. Seems to be based on the "lack of respect" attitude mentioned by Coach Karl. I guess I always take glee in other teams' miseries, but that was an enjoyable read (especially at 5am!), right up there with Golden State of Mind's recap of Duhon's 34-point game.

This depth chart looks so good to me right now. I love all the backups where they're at (and the Rainmaker off the bench). I really don't see Larry Hughes anywhere else other than in the 11th man spot. Our 12th man's name is Viktor Khryapa (bring him back Pax!)

PG Kirk Hinrich          Chris Duhon
SG Thabo Sefolosha   Ben Gordon
SF  Luol Deng            Andres Nocioni    
PF  Tyrus Thomas       Drew Gooden
C   Joakim Noah         Aaron Gray

This weekend's Mark Stein Dime (#8) featured an interview with Tyson Chandler. Just some ammunication for those in the "Fire Skiles" camp.

A: I don't know. That's a question you'd have to ask them. But they probably made the right decision [to trade me and sign Ben Wallace], because I wouldn't have been able to be the same player there with that [coaching] staff. I was too frustrated all the time. You can't play basketball frustrated and not thinking straight out there. Out there, I would have never become the player I wanted to become.

Personally, I'm still on the fence with Skiles but you have to wonder about the Tyrus Thomas parallel. Will Skiles allow Tyrus to become the player he wants to become, and that he can become?

UPDATE: Skiles fired ... time to pick up Tyrus Thomas for your fantasy team!