November 20th Game Thread: Houston (7-5) @ Atlanta (10-2)

TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Rockets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.

HOUSTON INJURY REPORT: Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are out.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -7, 203.5 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Red 94

PREVIOUSLY, THE HOUSTON ROCKETS...have alternated wins and losses over their last nine games. Wednesday night in Minnesota it was a 97-84 win.

In the absence of both McGrady and Ming, Houston has developed an extraordinarily balanced offensive attack from Luis Scola, Trevor Ariza, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Chase Budinger, and David Andersen ably supported by the defense, rebounding, ball-handling, and passing provided by Shane Battier, Chuck Hayes, and Kyle Lowry. It's an impressive job by the players, coach Rick Adelman, and GM Daryl Morey to be this good with more than half of the team's payroll going to two guys who can't play right now.

LINKS

• David Andersen returns to...the place he never played. Andersen:

  "Obviously, it was my draft team. I'm not too emotional about it. It was close a couple times, I suppose. I hoped that one day it would happen. The way things worked out, the trade happened and I ended up in Houston, so that was a good thing."

  It's early in the season and neither Andersen nor Joe Smith have played many minutes for their respective teams but Rick Sund choosing Joe Smith for one year at $1.3 million (plus cash and a future second-round pick) over Andersen for two years at $4.8 million (plus $2.7 million team option in 2011-12) seems a decision beyond serious criticism.

• At The Wages of Wins, Dave Berri posits that Josh Smith is difference-maker for the Hawks this year. I'm not surprised that someone ignorant of Smith's ankle injury last year would be surprised that Smith has improved his rebounding, shot blocking, and steal rate over last year. I am surprised that an economist is so surprised that a previously good player could, over a 12 game stretch, be great.
• The Hawks top the Basketball-Reference.com Blog's first set of power rankings.
• DimeMag.com has highlights of 'Nique scoring 54 points against Boston on February 3, 1987.

Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.