There's not much going on at the Bulb in the first quarter of the matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and the New Orleans Hornets. About the highlight of what has been a sluggish first quarter without much flow at Philips Arena came when they showed recording artist and tween heartthrob Justin Bieber on the Philips Arena scoreboard. Let's just say the half-full arena wasn't too thrilled to see him here. He got a smattering of boos.
As for the action on the court, the Hawks are keeping pace with the Hornets, even though they are missing some size without Al Horford in the middle. Predictably as Atlanta has gone small, their shots have been pushed out more toward the perimeter. And through one, they aren't making them. Atlanta shot 8-for-22 (36-percent) in the frame and connected on 1-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line.
Fortunately, Atlanta held a 12-10 edge on the boards and the Hornets weren't exactly shooting lights out, either. They were 8-for18 from the field.
Jamal Crawford lead Atlanta with seven points, while Josh Smith had six and five boards through the first 12 minutes. Quincy Pondexter lead all Hornets with five points.
Trevor Ariza was scratched from the lineup with right ankle tendinits. That comes as a bit of a surprise, he was not listed on the team's initial injury report.