The Atlanta Hawks (35-36) finally got some more extended minutes for rookie first-round pick Jalen Johnson. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of their top two power forwards with Danilo Gallinari (Achilles) joining John Collins (foot/finger) on the injury report and sidelines for this contest.
Collins reportedly received a PRP injection for the foot injury. But Gallinari’s Achilles is new, though, it does come on the heels of a back-to-back.
Hopefully, that had more of an impact on the decision to sit him than the severity of the injury. Gallinari had been doing a great job filling in as a starter and giving the Hawks another legitimate scoring threat with Collins, their second-leading scorer, out of commission.
Johnson gave us reason to be upbeat despite their absences and the subsequent loss.
The Atlanta Hawks gave Jalen Johnson extended minutes and got good results
Johnson first entered the game with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter and the game tied at 18 apiece. He stayed on the floor until the 8:30-mark in the second checking out with five points, three rebounds, and an assist on a handoff for a Kevin Huerter triple. The 20th-overall pick in this past NBA Draft also caught a lob from Bogdan Bogdanovic that got everyone hyped.
He did not return until 6:22 into the third quarter. The Hawks trailed by 29 points at the time. They were able to cut into it a bit, whittling it down to 19 at one point. But they never came any closer than the eight-point deficit they faced to start the third quarter.
Still, Johnson made his mark in a big way.
His 24-plus minutes shattered his previous high of 15:13 set against the New York Knicks, whom the Hawks beat on the first leg of this back-to-back.
WHOA Jalen Johnson pic.twitter.com/oIR2iftmau
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 23, 2022
Johnson finished with 11 points and seven rebounds mirroring teammate Onyeka Okongwu, and we even got an enticing glimpse of future lineups featuring the duo. The former Duke Blue Devil shot just 55.6 percent from the floor but was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc compared to 5-of-6 everywhere else.
However, it was his all-around game that shined through despite the gloom-and-doom of dropping the season series to the Pistons. Remember, they beat the Hawks in overtime just over two weeks ago.
It is especially disappointing coming off of the elation of Tuesday’s win.
Johnson did a good job of trying to make the right play finishing with just two turnovers one of which just slipped through Kevin Huerter’s hands.
While it was always going to be an uphill battle for the rookie to crack this rotation, hope springs eternal. This was at least good enough to wet the whistle but we may see more with the injuries and season shaping up as they have.
It was a good showing overall, hiccups included. As 92.9 The Game’s Mike Conti put it, this won’t do anything to slow down the hype train. A train that we may or may not have been on for a while now.