I’m not going to get carried away, but from watching the Pistons game on Friday and seeing them beat the Celtics today 100-96, I think we’re going to see an upswing in the coming months. Today’s game was probably the best 48 minutes i’ve seen the Hawks put together this season.

In Attendance: Myself, Janet, Ismail. I had four freebies from Pops’ work in the section below Headlines Grill, but I could not find a taker for the fourth.

The Spin: Myself- Hawks Spirit Item (Coozie); Janet- 2 free Hawks tickets Voucher ( I immediately went and used it on Sixers tickets for the 27th because it’s JJ Statue night).

The Game: No PGs today. Lue and Claxton were both hurt. It’s funny that the Hawks would have one of their best performances of the year with Salim,  Marvin and JJ running the point. The Hawks started strong, led by ten at the half and by 6-10 for the majority of the 3rd Quarter. The Celtics would go on a run in the 4th Quarter and they must’ve shot 75% for the first 9 minutes of the quarter, but the Hawks didn’t cave in. The Hawks had some terrible calls go against them, further letting the Celtics into the game. However, the Hawks maintained their composure and got some clutch shots from J-Chill, Zaza and JJ down the stretch to hold on to the victory.

Player of the Game: J-Chill. 23 Pts, 14 Rebs, several key rebounds and defensive stops. Along with J-Smooth, we really missed their energy over the past six weeks. With both of them on the floor, the intensity level increases significantly.

As I commented in Steve’s latest post, Josh Smith made a HUGE difference in this game too. When he’s into the flow of the defense, he’s a game changer. In this game, he had some huge blocks, made some great defensive stops and had a career high five steals. The one downside to not having any PGs was that Josh had more ballhandling responsibilities. He turned the ball over 8 times, mostly off of forced passes into the post. Even still, it’s good to have him back- his presence makes a world of difference.