Johnson back in lineup for Friday
Hawks guard Joe Johnson will return to the lineup Friday night after missing the past three games with a sprained right thumb.
Johnson practiced with the team Friday morning at the team’s shootaround at Philips Arena in preparation for the game against Toronto. His thumb was heavily taped.
“It’s alright,” Johnson said of his thumb, which he injured last week in the team’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers. “It’s not where I really want it to be. It’s still sore, but that soreness is going to be there for quite some time. Just trying to help the team reach one of our goals, that’s trying to solidify the third spot.”
With four games remaining, the Hawks are tied with Boston for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference at 49-29. The Hawks need to finish ahead of the Celtics in order to take the third spot, as Boston owns the tiebreaker by virtue of being a division champion.
Without Johnson in the lineup, the Hawks went 1-2, beating Detroit last Saturday to run their home winning streak to 10, but then losing to Charlotte Tuesday and Detroit Wednesday, which ran their road losing streak to six games.
Coach Mike Woodson also said that backup center Jason Collins will miss the remainder of the regular season as a result of a foot injury sustained before Wednesday’s game at Detroit.
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317 comments Add your comment
Mel
April 9th, 2010
8:39 pm
got damn!!! thats like his 10th 4 pt play of the yr!!
Najeh Davenpoop
April 9th, 2010
8:40 pm
Crawford gets fouled on the 3 and hits it anyway. Icing on the cake for a great quarter.
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:40 pm
LMAO @ this dude.
Didn’t even guard Calderon on the other end and give up an uncontested jumper . . . then comes right back down and gets ANOTHER 4 POINT PLAY.
HAHAHA
Crazy
Melvin
April 9th, 2010
8:40 pm
How does Crawford keep getting these 4-point plays….
J.J.M.
April 9th, 2010
8:41 pm
I agree venom you cant assume the braves will finish in time
Mel
April 9th, 2010
8:41 pm
44 2nd quarter points! if only they could consistenly put up half of that in the 4th!!
vava74
April 9th, 2010
8:41 pm
I like this line up. The only defensive weak link is – when clicking like today – an offensive beast.
It was our best line up against the Pistons.
Jason
April 9th, 2010
8:42 pm
Excellent quarter by the Hawks. They outscored the Raptors 45-22 in that one.
drmaryb
April 9th, 2010
8:42 pm
Rich-Brave,
The Washington “Bullets” are beating the Celtics & helping the Hawks!
Maybe we can get Arenas when he gets outa the dog-house! LOL!
Crawford padding his Reggie Miller Stats! Another 4 point play! Yeah!
BTW people – what’s wrong with the 3rd BEST offense in the East? That’s the Hawks!
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:43 pm
Crawford is the modern day Vinnie Johnson. He’s not a guy you want leading your squad because he doesn’t have the all-around game that you can depend on.
But when he’s on offensively, you MUST get him the ball, because he can make any and every shot.
Jason
April 9th, 2010
8:43 pm
By the way, Boston went on a mini-run to cut the deficit to 21. The score is now 52-31.
Ree Roe
April 9th, 2010
8:45 pm
SMH @ yall wanting the Braves to lose. I’m not sure if most of yall are aware of this, but as of now MIL is the 5 seed & MIA is the 6 seed so if both teams win out, MIL will be the 5 seed, not MIA
-fREE Roe!!
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:47 pm
The 3rd seed is important, simply due to the fact that IF Boston beats a team like Cleveland . . and we beat Orlando . . . we’ll have home court advantage in an Atlanta vs Boston EC Finals.
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
8:51 pm
Nice lead at the half. I see Mr. Crawford has exploded onto the scene to lead the way. Not getting much from anywhere else.
drmaryb
April 9th, 2010
8:51 pm
Charles Barkley on TNT:
“Iam very dissapointed in the poor level of play in the NBA!”
Kenny Smith: responds, “is it bad coaches or bad players?”
Barkley: Answers, “its BAD PLAYERS!”
Point well taken charles! Coaches call plays! Players MAKE plays! Great stuff from charles.
So to all the whiners: like Chuck lamented, a 7′ player has been 7′ ALL his life & to have no fundamentals &
Heart is not a coaches fault!
Bench their azzes and get some real hungry players in here! That goes double for Marvin the #2 pick who signed for 7.5 Mil$ & proceeded to lay TURDS every night! Shame on you & Shame on Sund!
BONE
April 9th, 2010
8:53 pm
lol @ leauge pass halftime show
trainWreck
April 9th, 2010
8:55 pm
Good thing Jamal is playing well or we would be talking about how many games we lose to bad teams WITH Joe playing.
JCtoo
April 9th, 2010
8:56 pm
Hope this game doesn’t go like most Hawks home games this year. Hawks start slow, get in a hole early. Come back with a fury to take the lead by half. Slowly give it away and make a blowout a struggle by game’s end
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:56 pm
drmaryb . . . you are correct as usual.
I hate those 7 foot players ( like Bargnani ), that play like 6-5 guards. A guy like him could be a damn good player, if he actually played to his size on the inside, rather than out on the perimeter all the time. But like Charles said . . . too many big guys aren’t developed at all. Even Dwight Howard isn’t nearly as good as most of the centers back in the day. And he’s considered a DOMINANT center in today’s NBA.
And LOL @ the lay turds comment.
Marvin’s bowels must be OK tonight, because he has 6 pts – 5 rebs – 2 stls
Blast
April 9th, 2010
8:57 pm
Way too early to cast the 1st round series in stone yet. It’s really a 4 way race between Hawks, Boston, Miami and Milwaukee. Still a toss up who finish 4th and 5th. As of now, all four teams have identical records for the 3 and 5 spots. I feel this will come down to the wire.
Good to see Hawks wake up in their gym. Good to see the baseball game end, and Jamal make another 4 point play.
Lately, Jamal has been fading towards end of games. If he doesn’t tonight, would be so nice to see him go for 50.
VenomSpitter
April 9th, 2010
8:57 pm
The Rock: Coach Woodson, how u doin. Why do u think your offense looked so terrible in the 1st qtr?
Coach Woodson: Well I think-
The Rock: IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT U THINK U POTATO HEADED JABRONI. IF U SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL WHAT THE ROCK…. IS COOKIN’
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:58 pm
Good shooting Bibby. . . 3 buckets off JJ’s passes
JCtoo
April 9th, 2010
8:59 pm
Bibby for THREEEEEEEE!!!!! Wish he’d hit that one in Auburn hills the other night
Sybil's bane
April 9th, 2010
8:59 pm
If that’s the case, then why waste money on a coach? Just hire better players. Fire the whole staff.
Mel
April 9th, 2010
8:59 pm
step back by AL lol
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
8:59 pm
here comes boston . . down 17 now
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
9:01 pm
Looks like we got “Good Marvin” tonight.
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
9:05 pm
Bibby and Smith warming up just a bit, JJ leading the team in assists. Looking better and better on offense.
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
9:06 pm
Is that score right? Washington 64, Boston 39?
I wonder how stress free their fan base is feeling right now.
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:07 pm
Only concern in this game is that Toronto is shooting 48% FG . . . Hawks 43% FG
We don’t need Crawford coming into this game cold, and continuing to shoot. If he’s off, he needs to pass the ball. If he’s on, he needs to go for the throat.
JCtoo
April 9th, 2010
9:07 pm
Boston down 25 now
J.J.M.
April 9th, 2010
9:08 pm
lmaoooo@joe
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:08 pm
Wow . . no foul call?
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:09 pm
Hawks better be careful here. Hunker down on defense.
These Raptor announcers are annoying.
JCtoo
April 9th, 2010
9:09 pm
OK it’s down to 10…tighten up guys
VenomSpitter
April 9th, 2010
9:10 pm
The Rock: Coach Woodson, how u doin. Why do u think your offense looked so terrible in the 1st qtr?
Coach Woodson: Well I think-
The Rock: IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT U THINK U POTATO HEADED JABRONI. IF U SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL WHAT THE ROCK…. IS COOKIN’
Jason
April 9th, 2010
9:11 pm
Good timeout by Woodson there. Things are starting to get a bit out of hand.
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:11 pm
I bet Teague is like. . . “damn man . . these guys do this on purpose, so I can’t play in the 2nd half”
Blast
April 9th, 2010
9:12 pm
Up 8 in the third, but fading fast. Can Hawks win this game AT home?
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
9:12 pm
sigh ….
We were saying something about 7′ centers who play like guards?
How about teams that can’t/don’t defend them? Arrrgghhh!
Blast
April 9th, 2010
9:12 pm
Josh had to work hard for that and 1.
Melvin
April 9th, 2010
9:13 pm
I like this Amir Johnson guy…
Big Ray
April 9th, 2010
9:14 pm
Nice, Josh.
VenomSpitter
April 9th, 2010
9:15 pm
The Rock: Coach Woodson, how u doin. Why do u think your offense looked so terrible in the 1st qtr?
Coach Woodson: Well I think-
The Rock: IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT U THINK U POTATO HEADED JABRONI. IF U SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL WHAT THE ROCK….. IS COOKIN’
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:15 pm
Milwaukee up 4 with a minute to go . . . Miami down 12 in the 3rd
drmaryb
April 9th, 2010
9:15 pm
N-CYDE
I know. In baseball the players are held more accountable than any other sport. The Manager
Doesn’t throw Balls & Strikes (the pitcher does that) & The HITTERS hit!
The same hold true for the NBA – I never saw a COACH shoot, defend & rebound either.
When you have a running team like ours the plays are basically STREET BALL plays!
You have to EXECUTE the game plan. No COACH ever draws a BAD play.
However, the COACH does have to manage the rotations & put the best players on the floor at all times.
& coach player UP. But, the GM is the architect. Sund has to TRY to get the best talent available in here – has he done that? Is it a $$$$ issue in Atlanta?
J.J.M.
April 9th, 2010
9:16 pm
same ol hawks
VenomSpitter
April 9th, 2010
9:16 pm
uh oh choke time 4 the hawks
JCtoo
April 9th, 2010
9:17 pm
Bad spacing on that fast break with JCraw and Smoove
Sybil's bane
April 9th, 2010
9:17 pm
northcyde
April 9th, 2010
9:07 pm
Only concern in this game is that Toronto is shooting 48% FG . . . Hawks 43% FG
We don’t need Crawford coming into this game cold, and continuing to shoot. If he’s off, he needs to pass the ball. If he’s on, he needs to go for the throat.
SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT SUPERSTAR JOE THOUGH AND WATCH YOU FREAK ALL THE WAY OUT.