Tonight, the Atlanta Hawks take on the Orlando Magic in a nationally televised game that, if I'm allowed comment, is quite compelling.

The Hawks have completely and utterly turned things around. They have the best record in their conference, the fifth-best point differential in the NBA, and the team seems light years removed from the dull, jump-shooty mess that put us to sleep in the playoffs last spring. Sure, they got off to a hot start last year (winning six in a row to start 2008-09), but that felt like smoke and mirrors.

This feels ... different.

And the Hawks are playing the Magic. The team that made it to the Finals last year, and decided to replace all sorts of rotation parts with all sorts of compelling, intriguing, new parts. The team that employs Stan Van Gundy. The team that employs a center that can dunk on a 12 and a half-foot goal. The team that employs a center just a few years removed from getting his braces off.

Tell me you're not loving this. Then tell me that you don't know where this is going. You should know by now.

The "what I'm thankful for" column is the third-biggest gimmick of the calendar year for us, just behind "what I'll give _____ for Christmas" and "New Year's resolutions for _____." It even carries over, past the sports page. It's a cheap trick.

But if you're not thankful for the era you're living in, the time and space you're spiraling through, and you're an NBA fan? There's something wrong with you.

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May your turkey be moist, your relatives bearable and your Thursday night NBA action amazing.

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Golden State of Mind. The Warriors will don the above retro garments five times this season. You like?
PF: Eight Points, Nine Seconds. If you gonna read one NBA/Thanksgiving post today, make it this.
SF: Silver Screen & Roll. "The Lakers, we should probably just admit, are stuck with a subpar bench."
SG: From Deep. Michael Grange: "Allen Iverson played for himself."
PG: Magic Basketblog. Rashard Lewis(notes) is still searching for his shooting touch.
6th: TSN. Tim Chisholm: How do you solve a problem like DeMar DeRozan(notes)?
7th: Associated Press. Touched by NC girl's death, Shaq pays for funeral costs.
8th: FOX Sports. Nets, Wolves could challenge the record for fewest wins in a season: nine.
9th: The Press-Enterprise. Ron Artest's(notes) sister is being investigated in a housing probe.
10th: NBA FanHouse. Tom Ziller: "We hear quite a bit about how well Kobe Bryant(notes) and LeBron James(notes) play at Madison Square Garden, the so-called Mecca of basketball. But Sunday's action reminded us that Paul Pierce(notes) belongs in that discussion, too."

Got a tip or link for Ball Don't Lie? Hit me up at jeskeets [at] yahoo.ca or follow me on Twitter.

For those NBA players struggling at the charity stripe this season — I'm looking at you, Shaq. I'm always looking at you — two NC State engineers have figured out the best way to shoot a free throw.

Drs. Chau Tran and Larry Silverberg used hundreds of thousands of three-dimensional computer simulations of free throw trajectories to arrive at a number of major recommendations to improve your chances of throwing up a swish rather than a brick.

Go science!

First, the engineers say that shooters should launch the shot with about three hertz of back spin. That translates to the ball making three complete backspinning revolutions before reaching the hoop. Back spin deadens the ball when it bounces off the rim or backboard, the engineers assert, giving the ball a better chance of settling through the net.

Where to aim? Tran and Silverberg say you should aim for the back of the rim, leaving close to 5 centimeters — about 2 inches — between the ball and the back of the rim. According to the simulations, aiming for the center of the basket decreases the probabilities of a successful shot by almost 3 percent.

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Pacers guard Dahntay Jones tries to rip the ball away from Clippers guard Baron Davis' beard at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Best caption wins some cranberry sauce. Good luck.

After the jump, a Hawks' Thanksgiving feast.

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In what should come as a shock to no one, Stephen A. Smith is reporting that Allen Iverson is already considering a comeback.

"I think he just wants to feel wanted again," one of Iverson's confidants told Smith on Wednesday.

Look, let's cut right to the chase here. Will Iverson ever play again in the NBA? Yes, it's likely. He basically said, "I'm retiring, but I'm also telling you I can still play" in his goodbye statement, so why would we be surprised to see the future Hall of Famer sign on with the Boston Celtics or Orlando Magic or some other team in the near future? It's amazing he didn't include his cell number with the statement.

But for now, Allen Iverson is retired. So let's continue to give him the "farewell blog tour" he deserves.

To the YouTube machine!

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I'm Canadian, but screw it. Today, I am thankful for Wade's dunk over Sideshow Bob, Steve Nash(notes), ginger ale, Durantula, The Roots, ketchup, people that lend me "The Wire" DVDs, Carmelo's jumper, LeBron's chase down blocks, Kobe's everything, the Yahoo! Sports heavyweights, this movie scene, Ron Artest(notes) in Hollywood, all the Ball Don't Lie readers and for not being a New York Knicks fan. Hello!

Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your turkey.

Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune: "Coming into Wednesday night's New Orleans Hornets-Milwaukee Bucks game at New Orleans Arena, a rookie point guard was expected to shine. Not many figured, however, it would be Hornets' rookie Darren Collison who would steal the thunder, and the basketball at a critical moment in overtime, as New Orleans rallied for an improbable overtime victory. On a night when the Hornets threatened the team record for single-game shooting futility and trailed by 13 points, 11 at one juncture in the second half, it seemed unlikely that Collison would eventually grab the spotlight away from Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings, whose performance through the early part of the season has made him the favorite to win rookie of the year honors. [...] 'We expect that from him,' Hornets forward David West said of the poise that Collison exhibited throughout the game, but especially in the closing moments when senses were heightened by the frenetic pace of New Orleans' comeback and the surging exuberance of the 14,315 in attendance who were treated to a pre-Thanksgiving basketball feast. 'This guy has played in (NCAA) Final Fours. He's been in pressure situations. It's nothing new for him. So coming in here, we knew he has a lot of confidence. He believes in what he can do, trusts his instincts and in those situations, he can handle it.'"

Jarrod Rudolph, RealGM: "Ahead of Wednesday's game in Orlando, Dwyane Wade shed some light on who he thinks would be the best player for him to play with. 'If I could pick one player in the league today to play with — and most people think I'd say LeBron James — I would pick Dwight (Howard),' Wade said Wednesday after practice at Amway Arena. 'I'd love for that to happen at some point. Dwight is already close right here in Orlando. People who say it couldn't happen (us playing on the same team), they don't know. I've learned in this league that anything is possible. I've played with a dominant center before, and there's nothing like it. It changes the whole game. It's why I'd love to play with Dwight. He's a phenomenal center who has only just scratched the surface of where he'll be,' Wade said. 'And he's the type of guy you'd really like to be around.'"

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Credit: Getty Images

Dallas at Houston

The Mavericks played on Tuesday night after three days off, so one would assume that a disjointed start would be followed by a well-rested romp toward the end of Tuesday's game. Especially considering the fact that the opposing Warriors could only dress six players.

Instead, the opposite happened. We're still figuring out these Mavericks.

These Rockets, too. We've figured out that we can rely on them to work like mad and hustle like heck, but we didn't figure in the rather average D before the season. Shane Battier(notes) might be out tonight with a sore foot, so that's not going to be good for business.

In either direction, though, this should still be a thoroughly entertaining matchup between two teams that, by and large, know what they're doing. Two terrific, veteran coaches, and a rowdy, "we don't have to work tomorrow"-atmosphere. I'm down.

12 games tonight, a full slate. Comment away as you see fit.

Dallas Mavericks: 10-4, 93.1 possessions per game (12^th most in the NBA), 106.5 points scored per 100 possessions (15^th), 101.2 points allowed per 100 possessions (fifth).

Houston Rockets: 8-6, 94.6 possessions per game (ninth), 108.8 points scored per 100 possessions (seventh), 105.6 points allowed per 100 possessions (15^th).

All statistics courtesy basketball-reference.com.