Atlanta 95 Philadelphia 88

Box Score

Gameflow

Three more good defensive quarters were enough to make up for a dreadful opening quarter wherein Thaddeus Young narrowly failed in his attempt to outscore the Hawks singlehandedly. Young shone brightly and briefly but Joe Johnson's consistent excellence during the final three quarters (31 points, 12-18 shooting) propped up an otherwise sputtering Hawks offense though if Mike Bibby and Al Horford hadn't played well in the first half the game likely would have gotten out of hand whether the Hawks held Philadelphia to 31 second half points or not.

Despite the fine win against a good team there are still reasons for concern. Marvin Williams looked quite poor in his debut. Josh Smith took 9 jump shots (quite predictably making just 2). Outside of Zaza Pachulia's 4 point, 4 rebound fourth quarter stint, the second unit was quite poor. Maurice Evans and Acie Law IV were both -8 in limited minutes. Flip Murray (4 points, 8 shots) played the entire fourth quarter and I couldn't really make an argument for anyone to take his place on the court.

Finally, as impressive a shot as it was to make, Joe Johnson's 30-footer with 11 seconds left in the game does not inspire confidence that this year's Hawks team will be any better than last year's team at creating good shots on important possessions.

For the second time in four days, Mark Bradley is massively impressed:

The Hawks’ home opener began as if Philadelphia was Florida and the Hawks were … well, you know. But a funny thing happened on the way to a fairly colossal letdown: From 23 points down, the Hawks roused themselves and delivered a fairly emphatic beatdown.

And now they’re 2-0, having whipped two of the East’s better teams, which leads us to believe that these Hawks might themselves be one of the East’s better teams.

Elsewhere...

• Joe Johnson is like high blood pressure.
• No, Joe Johnson is like a video game.
  
• For a Sixers' fan, the loss was embarrassing.