Hawks’ Jalen Johnson shows his old form in regular-season return
Two hundred and seventy-two days. Nearly nine months. That’s the amount of time Hawks forward Jalen Johnson waited to get back to regular-season basketball.
Johnson’s return to the court Wednesday for a regular-season game was meant to have the hallmarks of a revenge game.
In a January meeting with the Raptors last season, the 23-year-old exited a game with a shoulder injury, diagnosed as a torn labrum, after trying to block a layup by Raptors forward Scottie Barnes. He underwent season-ending surgery after putting together one of the best seasons of his young career.
But Wednesday’s season opener against the Raptors didn’t have the tinge of revenge, with the Hawks losing 138-118.
Johnson, though, played the way Hawks fans have come to know — fast, without fear and with force.
He finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, one steal and one blocked shot.
“It’s good to see him out there,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said of Johnson’s night. “He loves playing. He’s been really focused on the things that he needs to do to help our team.”
Johnson had an efficient night on offense, making 7-of-13 overall shots. He cut to the basket, contorting his body to get by defenders. He found backdoor cuts to get to the basket for quick dunks.
Johnson showed that the time off had little impact on his speed. Johnson blew past defenders before putting on the brakes to finish finger-roll layups. He held that same control even when defenders fouled him and he completed the 3-point plays.
With 8:30 to play in the third quarter, Johnson isolated Raptors forward Scottie Barnes at half-court. Johnson blew by Barnes at the top of the key. As Johnson got to the elbow on the floor, Barnes grabbed and wrapped the Hawks forward around his elbow and pulled.
That gave the Hawks their smallest deficit before the Raptors pulled away for good.
Johnson’s opening-game performance does not come as too much of a surprise. He had two solid outings during the exhibition games, when he showed that he hadn’t missed a beat despite the hiatus.
But with the Hawks’ loss Wednesday, Johnson wants nothing more than the team to collectively do what they know they should.
“I mean, just communication,” Johnson said. “Like I said, our rotations have got to be better. I mean, it’s not too much that we have to overthink or anything. It’s simple stuff that we have to clean up. But we just got to be better than we were tonight.”
Snyder agreed.
“He’ll be the first one to throw his hand up and say he needs to do a better job defensively in transition, which is also good,” Snyder said. “Some of the things that he was doing, on the offense end, attacking the space and making plays for other people is something that we need as a team, and he’s capable of doing, and we need him to keep doing that.”
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