Horford inactive vs. Wizards, Zaza to start

Al Horford will not play tonight, per Ken Sugiura, but plans to return for Tuesday’s game vs. Philadelphia. In Al’s stead will be Zaza Pachulia, making his second start of the season after getting just 9:36 of floor time last night vs. the Clippers.

Oh, and one more thing – The over/under for “times John Wall blows past Mike Bibby like Bibby’s not even there” is unofficially set at 32.5.

Jerious Norwood to Miss Remainder of 2010

Jerious Norwood will be on crutches for a while after tearing his right ACL. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

I thought the Falcons had gotten past the season-ending injury blues after the disastrous 2009 season, but it appears not.

News out of Flowery Branch this afternoon is that running back Jerious Norwood will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Norwood will be placed on Injured Reserve.

Week 2 Thoughts

Jason Snelling's shined in the home-opener in place of an injured Michael Turner. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

(My thoughts on this week will be brief since I didn’t see much of any football.)

Great to see the huge offensive output, especially with Michael Turner out of the game. Good teams are supposed to blow out bad teams at home.

And after two weeks, it’s pretty clear that the Cardinals are bad, and the Falcons are very good.*

*At home.

Time to Get Serious (Update: Jurrjens scratched, Brandon Beachy to make his debut)

Derrek Lee's grand slam propelled the Braves to a sweep, and prompted one lone Braves fan to lose his mind in Citi Field's nosebleeds. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Update: At 3:25 PM, the team announced that Jair Jurrjens will be replaced with rookie Brandon Beachy.

First things first, I had a great time at Citi Field (gorgeous park and relatively reasonable concessions prices) on Sunday. Mainly because with the Jets playing at home, no Mets fans showed up and my gal and I had the entire section to ourselves. As the only person within ten rows of me, I was able to stand up and clap obnoxiously loud after Derrek Lee’s grand-slam. The duration of my one-man ovation was excessive, but it’s not like I was outnumbered or anything. While sweeping the Mets was fun, important business awaits.

(Update) Braves Take Opener With Huge Inning

Jason Heyward's 18th home run was the difference maker Friday night. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Bad news New Yorkers, the Met-Killer torch has officially been passed. At the rate Jason Heyward his drilling Mets pitching this year, he’ll have to name his first born son Citi.

Jonathon Niese pitched well for the Mets, save for a nightmarish fourth inning which saw the Braves push across six runs, five of which followed a two-out walk to Tommy Hanson. The big inning was capped by Heyward’s bomb which turned a tie game into a Braves lead, and left a huge dent in the Subway sign on the upper-deck facade. The runs would prove sufficient for Tommy Hanson (who was solid, if not dominant) and the Braves held on for a 6-4 win.

Update: Chipper is Done

Terrible, terrible news. Chipper Jones’ knee injury is more serious than initially thought. On Thursday, Chipper’s agent confirmed the worst: the 38-year-old third baseman tore the ACL in his left knee when he went down in Tuesday’s game vs. the Astros.

Hawks fall in Charlotte

Bobcats 109, Hawks 100. Not a surprising outcome, given Joe Johnson’s sore thumb and Mike Bibby’s ingrown toe nail seem left the team without its starting backcourt. Win number 50 will have to wait, perhaps until tonight (at Detroit), but more important than that is that the team enters the playoffs at full strength, even if it costs it the 3-seed. However, the Celtics also lost last night, to the Knicks, so for at least another day, it’s still in the Hawks’ possession by the slimmest of 1-game margins.

Here’s a good breakdown from Brett Lagree at Hoopinion, who wasn’t thrilled with the lineup management today (and also gets into the larger issue of roster construction, which is a far more foreboding outlook for this team’s chances to compete this spring).

I get that the Hawks aren’t starting Jamal Crawford while Joe Johnson’s out because they want Crawford to be named Sixth Man of the Year. I don’t get why that precludes using Crawford as the team’s sixth man. Nor why Mike Woodson chose to use West (-18 in 9:51 of non-garbage time play during the first half) instead of Jeff Teague or Williams or anyone else capable of playing NBA basketball at a regular pace…..Tonight we witnessed both the cost of punting roster spots 10** through 15 and not recognizing that said roster spots were punted.

Yikes. Anyway, it’s on to Detroit, again without Johnson, and likely without Bibby as well. Zaza Pachulia, who left last night’s game due to hip flexor tendinitis, will be a game-time decision. The team has been fortunate to not run into many injuries this season, and this is a real bad time to start. But there’s no time to feel sorry for anyone. 5 games left. 1 win from 50. Let’s get it Hawks.

Joe Johnson has a sore Achilles’

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.