Michael Cunningham reports that the Hawks will be without Joe Johnson for tomorrow night’s game vs. the Nets, and possibly beyond.
Joe, suffering from a sore Achilles’, will not be making the flight to New Jersey, and Mike Bibby will travel but is also questionable with a sore back.
This will provide the Hawks a glimpse of what life could be like post-Joe, and also a chance for the younger members of the rotation to earn some playing time (read:trust) from coach Mike Woodson.
Cunningham speculates that sans JJ, Jamal Crawford would logically get the call to start at shooting guard, but Woodson hasn’t ruled out starting Mo Evans and keeping Crawford in his customary sixth-man role.
If Bibby is also out, then we’ll finally get to see whether Jeff Teague can run a team for extended minutes-and what better opportunity to do so then against the moribund Nets?
Without Joe, and possibly without Bibby, a seemingly benign back-to-back in New Jersey and Toronto has suddenly become a precarious stretch for a team still jockeying for playoff position. The Hawks have steadied of late, winning 7 of their last 10, pushing them a game ahead of Boston (5-5 in the last 10) for the 3-seed in the Eastern Conference.
