What2Watch4 Against the Hawks

New starter Spencer Hawes must bring the energy and stay out of foul trouble

Tonight the Atlanta Hawks come to town and there is plenty to talk about heading into the game.  So, here is what I will be watching for this evening:

1. The New Starting Lineup: According to the Sacramento Bee’s Sam Amick, the Kings will unveil a new starting lineup this evening with Spencer Hawes taking over at center for Sean May and Andres Nocioni starting at small forward. At this point it would look like a no-brainer as May and Mason just weren’t getting it done and have contributed little to the Kings so far. The biggest concern remains the size of the second unit and that was the reason given by coach Paul Westphal for having Hawes on the bench in the first place. By moving Hawes and Nocioni into the starting lineup, that leaves Sean May, Kenny Thomas, and Jon Brockman, all undersized bigmen, as the only reserves for the four and five positions. This is going to be a problem all season long, but it is still better to start your best players over falling behind every game. It won’t surprise me to see the second unit play “smallball” now and run with Udrih and Casspi coming in off of the bench. Look for them to push the tempo now if they are undersized. A strategy that may work well. Beno was very effective pushing the tempo on Monday night, so a running attack when he comes in could be very effective. This may also explain why Westphal opted to start Nocioni over Omri Casspi, despite Casspi starting the second half on Monday night. His speed and energy will be better suited to running if they choose to go uptempo with the bench.

2. Mike Bibby: Former King Mike Bibby will come back to Arco and he is still a fan favorite and one of the players that I still follow on a regular basis. Bibby is only averaging 9.5 points per game this season and is deferring to his teammates on a regular basis. He is also losing time to new addition Jamal Crawford. All of his numbers have dropped to start the season, but that is not surprising as the Hawks seek to limit the 32-year-old Bibby in the early going to have him fresh in the second half. Bibby is going to have his hands full with rookie Tyreke Evans, provided that Evans is 100%. I’m thinking the veteran has a few tricks up his sleeve and we will see the best effort from Bibby this evening.

3. Foul Throuble: No, it isn’t misspelled. The H is in there for both Hawes and Thompson. The Kings bigs must stay on the floor tonight and that will be a tough task against the athletic Hawks. The matchup at the four with Josh Smith is going to be especially problematic. Expecting Jason Thompson to stay with Smith when he already has an issue with moving his feet and getting silly fouls could be too much to ask for.  It is an area of concern and the Kings bigs must limit their fouls this evening.

4. Maximum Effort: The Kings need to bring max effort this evening. Obviously this applies to every game, but this one seems very important as they will be following up a great game on Monday night that juiced up the home crowd. Winning a second one at home against a team that is definitely more talented would go a long way toward getting fans excited about this young team again. Even a loss would be acceptable if the Kings bring maximum effort and compete. What they can’t afford is a lax outing at home and a blowout against the Hawks following a solid win on Monday. I will be paying particularly close attention to the rebounding totals as this is an area where the Kings must be better this evening. If they are going to start a larger front-line with Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni, then they can’t afford to lose the rebounding battle as they did on Monday night when Memphis out-rebounded them 57-40. I will also keep an eye on the effort categories of steals and blocks as those were areas where the Kings were clearly better against Memphis on Monday.