An additional factor to their struggle is the loss of Amare Stoudemire to injury. Amare is taking things slow right now, as he has still to recover from arthroscopic surgery. Only six players scored for Phoenix in that Atlanta game including two-time MVP Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Grant Hill, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa. No one else stepped up form the bench. Nash had to score 34, and Marion with 20. Hill had a measly 13. Hill and Diaw should plug-in the scoring holes left by the departure of Stoudemire.

But the good news is the Suns were 1-5 to start last year’s season, and they had a stellar campaign. They could have been crowned champions if not for referee betting controversy and other unfortunate incidents.

However, the Suns would still need a lot of help from the bench. At this rate, the starters may have spent all their energy this early, with nothing left come March and April!

Joe Cool is averaging 25.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1 steal and shoots 47.3% from the field in 40.9 minutes, while Rip norms 21.8 points, 3.9 caroms, 3.9 dimes, just 0.8 steal and shoots a lower 46.8% from the field. Detroit may lead the Eastern Conference, but he gets a lot of help from Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Chris Webber and Tayshaun Prince. All these guys are veterans and they’ve got rings. Johnson, meanwhile, has young guns to assist him. Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Shelden Williams, Marvin Williams, Salim Stoudemire and Zaza Pachulia are athletic players, but they still need experience. The Hawks may be in 11th place but they are out of the cellar, the spot that they’ve been for the past seasons.

In a game against Phoenix three nights ago, Johnson scored 17 of his 32 points in the final quarter, and single-handedly beat the Nash-less Suns. Phoenix was dealt their second defeat against an Eastern team, both at home, the other one against Washington. Now, how can you miss a guy like that. Clearly, he is Atlanta’s franchise player. And an established franchise player has to be in Vegas with his fellow stars.

The Hawks are one of only seven teams last season which allowed 100 points per ball game. During training camp, Woodson concentrated on defense, letting their offensive sets take a back seat. For the first three days of camp, the Hawks were honing their defensive traps and alignment. And the result: the Hawks now lead the Southeast Division with a 4-2 record.

In their wins, they allowed their opponents to score only 93 games. Their only losses were to Philadelphia and Seattle. Their loss to Philly was forgivable as they battled in a low scoring game. But the 76ers had the superior defense, as they won 88-75. It was Atlanta’s first game of the season.

Atlanta allowed the Sonics to score 113 points in overtime, which had their four game winning streak snapped. Josh Smith almost won the game for the Hawks, but he failed to block Ray Allen’s lay-up with 2.1 seconds remaining. Earlier, King Hawk Joe Johnson scored on a running shot with a little over 20 seconds remaining to put Atlanta ahead, 112-111. Allen led Seattle with 33 points. Johnson led the Hawks with 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia added 24 and 21 points respectively.

Atlanta could have won that game, but their free-throw shooting didn’t help, hitting just 21-out-of-33 free throw attempts. Plus, they did allow Seattle a whopping 113 points.

So far, Coach Woodson employs a nine-to-ten man rotation for the Hawks. His starters are: Speedy Claxton and Johnson at guard, Smith and rookie Shelden Williams at forward, and Pachulia at center. Claxton has missed the first two games due to a hand injury. Rookie guard Cedric Bozeman from UCLA started for him instead. Having the most minutes off the bench is Tyrone Lue, who backs up Claxton at the point. Lue and Johnson lead the team in assists with 4.7. Josh Childress, Lorenzen Wright and Matt Freije complete the rotation for Woodson. Solomon Jones has only played a single game so far. Surprisingly, promising sophomore Marvin Williams has not played yet.

All-star and former Sun Joe Johnson (JJ) leads the team in scoring with 28.8, while Pachulia averages 17.2 for a distant second. Smith, Pachulia, Childress, Johnson and Shelden Williams have been gang-rebounding for the Hawks. They average 7.0, 6.7, 6.3, 5.7 and 5.3 caroms a game respectively.

The Hawks are at a frail 4-2 in the Southeast, because they have not proven yet that they could beat the better teams. They haven’t encountered the likes of Miami, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, the Lakers and Detroit. They did defeat Cleveland in a 104-95 decision, at Cleveland. They just need to continue playing good defense and pressuring the ball carriers of the opposing squad. They have a lot of young talent, athleticism and energy to do that. As long as Johnson carries the scoring and playmaking responsibilities, they may have an outside chance to enter the postseason wars. But as of now, it’s still wishful thinking. They are still three to four years to becoming contenders. Their good start may wither in December. (pics courtesy of nba.com)