First things first: happy birthday to Mr. Ivan Johnson!

Today is the first of at least ten years where he will tell people he is 29 years old. For the next year, at least, he’ll be telling the truth.

Tonight would be a great night for this upcoming restricted free agent to get his Reggie Evans on. The Philadelphia 76ers are still smarting from the beastmode put upon them last night by the Brooklyn Nets player who turns 33 next month. At one point in the third quarter, Evans led the Sixers’ entire team in rebounds (24-23) as his Nets raced to a 23-point lead. He rested for the final quarter and allowed lightly used Kris Humphries (5 rebounds of his own in the final quarter) to close out a 21-point win.

The Nets game would have concluded a disappointing road trip for Philly, but for the 101-90 victory at Philips Arena last Friday night. The Sixers opened up a can in the first quarter against Atlanta, to the tune of 40-26 behind ten points from Evan Turner, and the listless Hawks failed to recover. Atlanta will need a strong start at the beginning of both halves and stop burrowing, unlike Friday when they also fell further behind with a 25-20 third quarter.

Against the Hawks, Jrue Holiday continued some horrendous shooting in going 3-for-14 from the field (3-for-6 at the line) for 9 points, but had no problems (8 assists, 2 turnovers) getting several players on the wing going. Not the least of these was former Hawk Damien Wilkins. The Nephew had 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting (2-for-3 on three-pointers), bringing his scoring average against the Hawks to 14.0 PPG through 3 games. Before inserting Wilkins into starting lineups in mid-March, Philly was looking like the Sick-sers, losing ten straight and 25 out of 30 games. In the 16 games since then, Philly’s gone 8-8, and Wilkins has upped his shooting percentage from 41.2 FG% as a barely-used reserve (3.3 PPG; 0.7 APG) to 51.0 FG% in a starting role (12.8 PPG; 3.0 APG). Lottery balls became less of a foregone conclusion thanks to Wilkins’ play.

With Wilkins joining Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young on the court, Philadelphia has sufficient defensive coverage to make perimeter shooting tough on the Hawks. That’s when it helps to have a glass cleaner like Evans (9 offensive boards last night) doing his thing to extend possessions. Atlanta will be competitive if they find some bigs (Al Horford, Josh Smith, and either Johnson or Mike Scott) who can collectively help emulate that performance tonight against Spencer Hawes and Thad, who combined for nine offensive rebounds on April 5, outdoing the Hawks’ six. Coach Doug Collins may play more of Lavoy Allen or Arnett Moultrie to help neutralize the Hawks’ frontcourt output tonight. Johan Petro’s wife has a bun (a croissant?) about to come out of the oven soon, so he won’t be available tonight.

Nick Young may not provide ideal defense, but “Swaggy P” (18 points on 7-for-10 FGs to lead the Sixers last night off the bench) will at least do his best to outscore his opponents. Thad Young, Turner and Hawes combined for 7-for-28 shooting last night and will be implored by Collins not to settle for jumpers outside of ten feet. Incidentally, Jrue is now joined on the roster by his older brother, shooting guard/small forward Justin, who helped expand the Sixers’ first-quarter lead in just his second NBA game.

Rookies Scott (22 points, 8-for-15 FGs, 6-for-8 FTs) and John Jenkins (23 points, 7-for-9 FGs, 3-for-3 3FGs, 6-for-6 FTs) showed against San Antonio they’ve been building quite a rapport on the floor since Summer League and D-League together, and deserve more minutes together on the court during the close of this regular season. Their ability to get to the free throw line, and hit those shots (Jenkins 86.0 FT%; Scott 75.0 FT%), is downright refreshing. Jenkins has struggled a bit in crunch time with ball-handling, so he should be used if needed late in games primarily in a catch-and-shoot capacity.

Jeff Teague has struggled lately with his shooting (21-for-63 in his last 5 games), and must play stout defense if he wants to avoid another short-hook (just 23 minutes in San Antonio). Teague had 9 assists and just 2 turnovers on Friday versus Philly, but managed just 12 points of his own on 4-for-13 shooting. Having rested his sore foot, Devin Harris is likely available and will sop up minutes from Teague if he struggles offensively against Holiday.

Go Hawks!

~lw3