ESPN.com: Hollinger: Claw Power

It's encouraging to read that I'm not the only one who found last night's game less than enlightening. John Hollinger, from Philips Arena, on the Hawks' blowout loss:

Call Memphis' 96-77 rout over the Hawks an eye-of-the-beholder game.

Some will take it as a sign of the West's superiority to the East. Others will write it off as one of those nights that has been unusually frequent in the post-lockout, schedule-compressed NBA.

A few will take it as proof that the Grizzlies, despite a modest 12-10 mark, are more than capable of making the West playoffs even without Zach Randolph.

And still others will see a signal that Atlanta -- which is 13-0 against sub-.500 teams and 3-7 against those above -- doesn't belong in the rarefied air its 16-6 start suggested.

On one thing we can all agree: Memphis beat the living tar out of Atlanta on Thursday, going up by 24 through three quarters and leading by as much as 30 in the fourth before a burst of cosmetic scoring by Jannero Pargo -- much of it at the expense of his younger brother, Jeremy -- made the final margin a bit more respectable.