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Flightless BirdsBy John Hollinger

ESPN Insider

ATLANTA -- It hasn't been hard for Atlanta Hawks observers to find bad news in recent times, and Tuesday night was no exception.

After a moving tribute to fallen teammate Jason Collier, the Hawks stayed winless by losing their "home" debut in front of a mostly pro-Laker crowd, blowing a double-digit lead by giving up "at least 20 layups" in the estimation of coach Mike Woodson.

The 103-97 final score was pure window dressing -- L.A. went up by 16 in the fourth before the Zen Master called off the dogs. Plus, adding insult to injury, the scoreboard stopped working early in the second quarter and the P.A. announcer spent most of the night calling out the time left on the shot clock.

Want more? I've got plenty. No. 2 overall pick Marvin Williams looks so lost he's been named an honorary passenger on Oceanic Airways flight 815, and needed a post-game pep talk from Roy Williams. Second-year forwards Josh Childress and Josh Smith both seem to have taken a step back from promising rookie seasons -- they combined for five field goals and six turnovers.

And with the death of Collier and an injury to Tony Delk, the club is stretched so thin that Al Harrington had to play center in the first half when Zaza Pachulia encountered early foul trouble ... and then guard Kobe Bryant in the second half while Joe Johnson and Childress grabbed a breather.

But we knew this team had problems from the get-go -- it didn't lose 69 games last year for nothing. So instead, let's focus on the one piece of good news -- the play of Joe Johnson. Now that Woodson has mothballed the idea of playing Johnson at the point, Atlanta is finally getting some return on its $70 million investment. On Tuesday, Johnson delivered his best game as a Hawk, scoring a season-high 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting.

It was a far cry from the preseason and the first two regular-season games, when Johnson labored to get the ball across halfcourt against quicker point guards. Matched up against players his own size, Johnson looked much more comfortable. "The two gives me more freelance opportunities," said Johnson. "I can make more plays not just for my teammates, but for myself too."

He should get plenty more opportunities to do so. With the struggles of the two Joshes and Williams, the Hawks' need at off guard is much greater than it is at the point. Thus, for the few Hawks fans in the Philips Arena crowd, Johnson's play at the shooting guard spot was the one silver lining in an otherwise dreary home opener.