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Red-hot Hawks look to take down Anthony, Nuggets

Dec 29, 2008 - 3:30 PM Denver (20-11) at Atlanta (19-10) 7:00 p.m. EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Hawks are one of the best home teams in the NBA. The Denver Nuggets are vulnerable on the road.

The Hawks will be looking to run their home record to 14-2 when they host the Nuggets on Monday.

Caught in the shadows behind Eastern Conference powers Boston, Cleveland and Orlando, Atlanta is quietly emerging as one of the better teams in the league. The Hawks have won four in a row overall and are 6-1 on their current eight-game home stand.

Joe Johnson has been a big part of the team's recent success. The All-Star guard followed up his second career triple-double with a 41-point outburst on Saturday in a 129-117 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Johnson leads the team in scoring at 23.2 points per game and is aided by the presence of point guard Mike Bibby, who is averaging 16 points per game while hitting 47.3 percent of his 3-point attempts.

The Nuggets are a strong team at home as well, owning an 11-4 record at the Pepsi Center, but are a much more average 9-7 on the road.

Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup after a three-game absence due to an elbow injury and poured in 32 points as Denver took the opener of its four-game road trip, 117-110, over the New York Knicks on Saturday.