Phoenix Suns vs Atlanta Hawks | Preview & Predictions

NBA BASKETBALL – FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010

Phoenix Suns (24-15) at Atlanta Hawks (25-13), 8 p.m. EST, TV: ESPN

While the best team in the NBA resides in the Western Conference, a steady argument is being made that overall, the Eastern Conference is making up ground and this game is evidence to that, as Phoenix seems to be a team on the decline and Atlanta is a team on the upswing and hosts the Suns at Phillips Arena.

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This is the first meeting between Phoenix and Atlanta this season.

Phoenix is 3-2 over its last five games, but a closer look at that run shows that the Suns are anything but hot. In that stretch, there are two surprising losses to Eastern cellar-dweller Indiana and another loss to also-ran Miami. The wins haven’t been much more impressive, either, with squeakers over Sacramento and Milwaukee, with the Bucks without their best player in Michael Redd and missing head coach Scott Skiles, who was hospitalized with heart problems. After you get past Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson, Phoenix has zero depth. But those three can give you problems.

Atlanta is hot, hot, hot right now. The Hawks have won four of their last five and appear to have solved some minor chemistry issues that popped up a couple of weeks ago. In the Eastern’s Southeast Division, Atlanta is tied for first-place with Orlando, which pounded the Hawks last week, but Atlanta bounced back to beat the Boston Celtics on the road. This team has bona fide stars in Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, and they’re deep, too, with electric guard Jamal Crawford coming off the bench and a stacked frontcourt of Al Horford and Marvin Williams, who seem to be vibing right now.

The odds makers have the Hawks at -5 point favorites.

Phoenix will always be a dangerous team with the trio of Nash, Stoudemire and Richardson … but it takes a village to raise a child, and this team is getting old and testing coach Alvin Gentry’s patience at every turn. The Hawks seem to have their eyes on bigger things and as I’ve said before, getting Marvin Williams to produce seems to be the key, as he was the weak link on their starting five for most of the first half of the season, but seems to be getting the hang of things.

Look for Atlanta to keep its recent hot streak going and relish the opportunity to beat a playoff team from the Western Conference at home and win by 10 points.

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