Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Jason Collier will miss the rest of Atlanta's road trip as he was sent home yesterday with severe bronchitis. He had started but played only five minutes in their regular season opener and now joins what seems to be developing into a potentially troubling year for frontcourt Hawks players. Chris Crawford is out for the season. Kevin Willis is coming back from being a little hurt. There are lots of minutes to go around but who will step up?
Al Harrington and Antoine Walker are the keys to this franchise and they played 39 minutes in the opener. They will probably play even more tonight.
Predrag Drobnjak played just 20 minutes in the first game and will probably start and see major minutes tonight. He is perhaps Atlanta's last hope for a big man who can handle big minutes unless Mike Woodson moves to the strategy that Don Nelson employed last year in Dallas of playing Walker at center.
Fortunately the team they face tonight, the Sonics, are more focused with their talent on their wing players as well, so it may turn into quite an interesting game as both teams are looking to shrug off lopsided losses in their first game.
NEXT GAME
The Atlanta Hawks (0-1) continue their Western Conference road trip tonight as they face the Seattle SuperSonics (0-1) at 10:30pm Eastern to be broadcast on Turner South and NBA League Pass. This may be Atlanta's best chance for a victory on the road trip since their next and final game is Sunday against the Lakers.
TEAM NOTES
The Hawks media guide is 304 pages containing info and bios on all the players, coaches, front office and owners of the Atlanta Hawks. It's filled with past season recaps and records, team awards, a yearly history of the Hawks franchise and season stats. Click here for info on how to purchase one.You can also pick-up the most recent issue of Hawk Talk, the Hawks monthly magazine.
INJURY UPDATE
Chris Crawford(torn ACL) is out for the season and on the injured list.Tony Delk(sore right knee) is out indefinitely and also on the injured list.Donta Smith(lower back strain) is also on the injured list.Jason Collier(severe bronchitis) will miss at least the two remaining road games as he was sent home to Atlanta yesterday.
Karen Rosen ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwrites: The fastest way for the Atlanta Hawks to get that sour taste out of their mouths is to beat the Sonics tonight... "Games come very quickly and you get a chance to redeem yourself," said coach Mike Woodson, whose team lost 112-82 to Phoenix in the season opener Wednesday night.
SportsBusinessNewswrites: [Dominique] Wilkins' title is vague — vice president/basketball — but his role has been clear since the new ownership took over in April: He is the heart and the face of the Hawks, a link to the past and a bridge to the future, an icon who goes to work each day to aid a franchise that has had five consecutive seasons of losing records and plummeting popularity.Although the paperwork hasn't been completed to make it official, the Hawks also list Wilkins as an investor, or part-owner. He'll hold about a 1 percent stake in Atlanta Spirit, the entity that owns the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights.
IGN Sportsinterview Al Harrington: I am definitely ready.I have been waiting for this moment for about two years now, so everyday I am trying to get better and tying to get in better shape and just working hard. Antoine and I so far work well together and we expect that just to get better as the season goes along. All the guys around us have been just great, everybody is working hard, and that's all we can ask from them.
The Associated Press writes inChicagoSports.com: Hawks center Jason Collier will miss at least two games because of severe bronchitis.Collier played only five minutes Wednesday in Atlanta's season opener. The team said Collier was returning to Atlanta and would miss the final two games of a West Coast road trip.
The Associated Press writes inAccess North Georgia: The team said Collier was returning to Atlanta and would miss the final two games of a West Coast road trip. He will be examined by team doctors and get plenty of rest, hoping to recover in time for the Hawks' home opener on Tuesday. Collier was signed by the Hawks in March and is one of only two holdovers from last year's team.
Frank Hughes ofThe News Tribunewrites: “I was shocked,†Sonics coach Nate McMillan conceded. “I really expected us to go down there and dominate. I did not expect that at all.†The reality is that the Sonics face the Atlanta Hawks tonight, so after re-evaluating their circumstances, the Sonics chose to take the pragmatic approach.“In the long run, you have to realize that it was one game,†Antonio Daniels said. “We have 81 more. And we have to put that one behind us and move forward.â€