Hawks Johnson's production down in New Year

[HMFFL]

There’s nothing he’s doing now that he wasn’t doing last month. In December, Johnson led the Hawks to 11 wins in 15 games and a top four spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

Take a quick look at his numbers in January and it’s clear the Hawks’ captain and All-Star isn’t fine.

Take another look at his body language on the floor and it’s clear he’s fatigued, physically and perhaps psychologically, as teams use bruising tactics to crowd him and force him into uncomfortable positions on the floor.

In December, Johnson averaged 24.2 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 35 percent from beyond the 3-point line.

In January, he is averaging just 16.9 points, 7.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds while shooting just 36 percent from the floor and 26 percent from beyond the 3-point line in 13 games.

“It’s just one of those things where your shots don’t go down the way they usually do and you have to keep plugging away,” Johnson said. “I don’t worry about this stuff. I just keep coming to work the way I always do and make sure I’m doing whatever I can to help my team win.”

Johnson’s been unable to do that, too, this month. The Hawks have been up and down and are 5-8 with a game tonight against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

“When a guy goes through a slump like this the only way to come out of it is to work your way through it,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “That’s the only way it can happen. There is nothing magical that’s going to fix it. And all good players go through these stretches it, and they always figure it out. And Joe is too good of a player to do anything but work his way out of this.

http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports ... hnson.html

[JoshB914]

Joe's poor play has been the difference in a lot of games we have lost recently. But he always goes through slumps around this time. I hope he can snap out of it as he did in previous years, because this team is only going to go as far as he takes us.

[LL Cool Scott]

He'll be fine in a few weeks. He does this every year. Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby and Al Horford are the only players on the team that you don't have to worry about.