When Al Horford came out of Wednesday night’s game against the Pacers with a shoulder strain, no one expected it to turn into this. The Hawks All-Star power forward has a torn pectoral muscle and could miss as much as four months– aka, the entire regular season.

According to Hawks GM Rick Sund:

“We are very disappointed for Al and our team and we wish him the best as he moves forward in the rehabilitation process. He has contributed greatly to our success since his arrival in Atlanta.”

So what does this mean for the Hawks moving forward? Either they may want to revitalize their efforts to acquire Dwight Howard, or say good-bye to what would be their 5th straight playoff appearance.

We’re one-sixth of the way through this shortened NBA season and the Hawks are right about where pre-season predictions had them pegged– with a winning record (7-4), third place in the division, and living comfortably in the lap of mediocrity.

Despite a valiant fourth quarter effort, the Hawks couldn’t come back against the Pacers Wednesday night and lost 96-84. Atlanta outscored Indiana 25-16 in the fourth but it was too little too late this time, and the Hawks snapped their three-game winning streak.

For the Pacers, the story of the night was Danny Granger‘s comeback– the Indiana forward led both teams with 24 points after being sidelined with food poisoning during the last game. Granger had been struggling from the field but seemed to have found his rhythm tonight. Apparently it wasn’t causing him too much concern:

“I never shoot good at the beginning of the season,” Granger said. “Nothing different. I knew it would come around at one point. Everybody else was worried about it more than I was.”

The Hawks were playing shorthanded, with injuries to Vladimir Radmanovic, Marvin Williams, andTracy McGrady. To make matters worse, Al Horford went down during the first quarter after straining his left shoulder and did not return for the remainder of the game. His future status is still unknown.

Next Up: The Hawks return home to take on the Bobcats Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. EST.

The Hawks moved to 7-3 and a game and a half behind Miami with a 106-101 win over the Nets Monday night.

Josh Smith led the Hawks with 26 points, a season high for him. Joe Johnson had 22 and Jeff Teague added 20 points (and redeemed himself for some poor performances for my fantasy team).

With Marvin Williams out with an ankle injury, newcomer Vladimir Radmanovic got the start for the Hawks and put up 14 points and six rebounds.

Anthony Morrow led the Nets with 20 points, and MarShon Brooks had 19 points and 10 rebounds. New Jersey drops to 2-8 (and 0-4 at home) with the loss.

Next Up: The Hawks will take on the Pacers on Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST.

The Hawks defeated the Bulls 109-94 last night, giving the team a 6-3 record on the season. The win brought a particular sense of satisfaction after the team lost to Chicago on Tuesday after letting a 17-point lead slip away.

Despite being mired in trade rumors, Josh Smith has performed well and led the team last night with 25 points and six blocks. Three other Hawks starters were in the double digits as well– Al Horford (14), Jeff Teague (12), Joe Johnson (17).

“We did a good team job on him defensively in crowding him, trapping him and showing him different looks,” Smith said of Bulls star Derrick Rose. ”We played sound defense on him.”

Rose was limited to just eight points on the night and did not play at all in the fourth quarter.

The victory is the team’s second in a row after Atlanta beat the Bobcats in overtime Friday night and brought Chicago’s six-game winning streak to an end.

Next Up: The Hawks will face the New Jersey Nets tomorrow night at the Prudential Center.

It’s still early, but the Hawks have looked good so far this season. With a 105-98 victory over the Nets last night, Atlanta moved to 3-0 and is one of the five undefeated teams in the league– the others being the Heat, Pacers, Thunder and Blazers. Check out the highlights here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgoquTn1HI

The Indiana Pacers offered Hawks free agent Jamal Crawford a two-year, $10 million deal according to reports on Tuesday. However, later reports that same day indicated that Crawford had declined the Pacers’ offer. Other teams interested in the Hawks’ guard include the Timberwolves, Knicks, Kings and Blazers.

So who is this guy anyways? The Hawks signed the 25-year-old Bahamian player as a free agent for a whopping $52,622 in April, but Rolle didn’t end up entering a game for Atlanta. With so much focus on the big names in the draft or top prospects out of high school, it’s easy to forget that the path to the pros isn’t always a straight shot.

Adding to the Hawks’ already diverse roster that boasts a Dominican (Horford) and Georgian (Pachulia), Rolle grew up and spend most of his life in Freeport, Bahamas. The forward/center didn’t start playing basketball until his freshmen year in high school, but was a quick learner. After his senior year, Rolle transferred to a  North Carolina prep school and then played for an LSU team that reached the Final Four. A year later, Rolle transferred yet again to Louisiana Tech where he finished fourth in blocks in the school’s history despite only playing for two years.

He entered the draft and was picked at number 51 by the Thunder and then promptly traded to the Pacers. He played in five games and averaged 6.6 minutes per game with Indiana before being waived. Rolle stuck with it, however, and was the third overall pick in the NBA D-League draft. He played with the Marine Red Claws before the Hawks picked him up.

So Rolle didn’t exactly get to the pros easily, and it’s still unclear how long he’ll stay. But he may be a good (and cheap) pickup for the Hawks who could use a little more depth at the power forward/center position.

The Bulls rode into the playoffs as the “dark horse” of the East, ending the regular season on a 9-game winning streak to slip past Boston as the number 1 seed. The Hawks limped their way into the playoffs, putting a 6-game losing streak behind them to defeat the Magic in 6 games. The Bulls are by far the favorite– once again, not one of ESPN’s experts has a Hawks logo next to his name in Round 2 picks. But this was the case in the Magic-Hawks series as well.

Both teams are hobbling into the conference semifinals with a number of significant injuries. Bulls point guard and MVP candidate Derrick Rose suffered an ankle sprain against the Pacers in Game 4, and power forward Carlos Boozer is listed as day-to-day with a toe injury. Boozer is questionable for tonight’s match-up against the Hawks, but Rose will definitely be in the lineup. Still, the ankle injury may slow him down a bit, and the Hawks will take anything they can get to help contain Rose, particularly with starting point and what would have been the Hawks’ primary defender against Rose, Kirk Hinrich, out. Hinrich strained his hamstring late in Game 6 against the Magic and is likely out for the entire series against his former team.

The loss of Hinrich has left a lot of question marks for coach Larry Drew as he considers his lineup for tonight. As late as last night, Drew said he was still unsure of whom he would use to replace Hinrich. Shocker. Atlanta has used 17 different starting lineups this season and seven of its players have started at least 22 games. But as much inconsistency and confusion as this has resulted in at times, perhaps being used to such spur-of-the-moment and on-the-fly decisions will work in the Hawks’ favor this time around, as a number of players will need to step up and make adjustments in Hinrich’s absence.

It will be interesting to see which team overcomes its injuries and comes out on top in Game 1. Coverage starts at 8 PM EST on TNT!

The Heat just took sole possession of second place in the East, and the Hawks just lost to the Wizards by thirty-two points. Yes, the Washington Wizards, who have a .275 winning percentage. This is coming after losses to the Pacers, Spurs and Rockets. The loss to the Pacers was the Hawks’ first to the team in over two years, and Saturday’s debacle was the first loss to the Wizards in thirteen games. So the Hawks are breaking a lot of streaks, but not exactly the kind one would necessarily hope for.

Well, good thing the Hawks’ first-year coach is still optimistic and maintaining the kind of positive attitude necessary to keep the momentum going– oh. Oh wait though:

“I am not very confident at all. I have been in this situation before having been in the league a long time. You can’t just flip the switch. It just doesn’t work like that.” ~Larry Drew

But even if the coach doesn’t believe in the team, it’s a good thing the players are still giving it their all– oh. Oh wait:

“Guys were really just going through the motions out there.” ~Al Horford

Not to rain on the parade even more, but if the Hawks don’t win tonight, it will be the team’s first five-game losing streak since February 2008. Tipping off at 7 PM EST on SportsSouth…

The Pacers looked like the only team that came out to play tonight. And I’m not the only one that thought so:

“They played hard,” Larry Drew said of the Pacers. “They played like a team where this game had meaning. They are locked into their position as well, but still they came out and played hard, and brought the game to us, and we didn’t respond.”

The Pacers played with energy and drive, riding high off of their recent win and clinching of the last playoff spot in the East; the win was their first against the Hawks in over two years. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 28 points. Jeff Teague, playing in his hometown of Indianapolis put in a solid effort with 21 points, but it wasn’t enough tonight.

The Hawks missed Josh Smith’s presence and were out-rebounded by 49-36. But LD rightfully concedes that this should have been no excuse:

“Regardless of what our situation is, whether we’ve got guys here or whether we have guys out, you still have to come out and you still have to compete. You have to be a presence very early, you have to play with a sense of urgency very early, and we didn’t do that. It’s something that we talked about this morning in our shootaround, we talked about it before going out onto the floor.”

Next Up: The Hawks will take on the Wizards at the Verizon Center at 7 PM EST Saturday night.