April 14th Open Thread: Miami @ Atlanta

I don't expect there to be anything to be learned from tonight's game. My hopes extend beyond "no injuries" only to the extent that Thomas Gardner or Othello Hunter or Randolph Morris or, yes, even Speedy Claxton might do something tonight to inspire some idle speculation some slow day this off-season. I'm not dismissing the possibility. Mike Taylor scored 35 points in an NBA game this year.

I'll be watching. Plus, you never know there might be a moment in the first six minutes where someone who is going to play big role in the playoff series does something or has something done to him that will provide the one new thought that leads to better understanding the games that soon will count.

We'll forgo most of the game thread boilerplate due to the unique nature of tonight's game, but first, the particulars of some importance.

TIP-OFF: 7pm

TELEVISION: Fox Sports South

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Heat

LINKS (to be updated throughout the day)

• Acie Law IV won't be ready to go tonight but we should get a heavy dose of Solomon Jones, according to the man in charge.
• Ira Winderman reports that Jermaine O'Neal will not play tonight, Luther Head and Udonis Haslem didn't travel to Atlanta, and that Dwyane Wade, Daequan Cook, and Jamario Moon are all questionable for the game.
• Bucks Diary (HT: Ben Q Rock via Peachtree Hoops) ran the log5 projections for the Hawks/Heat series.
• freedarko has a new graphical representation of Dwyane Wade's game.

11:40 AM UPDATE

• Per Micah Hart, Zaza Pachulia, Acie Law IV, and Maurice Evans out tonight.
• Also, this is Joe Johnson.

1:40 PM UPDATE

From Chad Ford's chat this afternoon:

Peter (Seattle, WA): Does the Heat/Atl match up boil down to a great player against a good team? Which team prevails?

Chad Ford: (1:33 PM ET ) Pretty much. But I like Miami here. I think we've all seen what a healthy DWade can do to a team in the playoffs. Just ask the Mavs. I think he'll be able to pull off the upset in 7 games.

3:40 PM UPDATE

Acknowledging the likely significant overlap between people checking for updates to this post and those who follow Speedy Claxton's Twitter feed, indulge me this:

speeddeamon nah only gonna play 7 or 8 mins