Even though the Atlanta Hawks are beating up on the New Jersey Nets pretty badly, the news isn't all good at the Highlight Factory.
Joe Johnson appeared to injure his hand going for a rebound early in the third quarter. He played a few possessions at Philips Arena before the team was forced to use a 20 second timeout to take the Atlanta All-Star out of the game.
Johnson was quickly looked at by trainer Wally Blase before the pair headed to the locker room. He was quickly diagnosed with a sprained right thumb injury.
Obviously, we do not know whether the injury will keep Johnson out for a prolonged period of time. While he is officially listed as questionable for the rest of this one. The Hawks have a 30 points lead. I doubt we'll see him back under any circumstances. His status for Sunday evening's game against the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers is very much up in the air.
As always, once we hear anything, we'll quickly pass it along, but this could put a damper on any celebration in the locker room if Atlanta holds on and clinches a playoff spot.