Atlanta Hawks

Weeks of positive energy for the Hawks turned sour five minutes into Saturday's loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

Sure, the seven-game winning streak is over. But they knew they weren't going to win them all. The real blow was point guard Mike Bibby going down with a sprained left ankle five minutes into the game.

Bibby came down on Darren Collison's foot and turned his ankle, the first significant injury to any of the Hawks' starters this season. He went to the locker room to have his ankle retaped so he could come back into the game, but it never happened.

"We don't the extent of the injury just yet," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "The way our schedule breaks, we'll have a few days to get guys ready to play against Orlando on Thanksgiving. That's really all we can do."

Bibby's absence highlighted not only the importance of having Jamal Crawford on the roster but also the need for Woodson to find more playing time for rookie point guard Jeff Teague.

"We're going to need everybody to pitch in whenever they can," Crawford said. "It might take a little bit longer than was initially planned, but we'll get it done."

HORNETS 96, HAWKS 88: In the Hornets, the Hawks found an opponent more than willing to challenge their status as the league's top team.

And challenge them they did. The Hawks struggled to locate their energy one night after they went to the wire against a similarly scrappy Houston team at home.

But losing point guard Mike Bobby was easily the biggest blow of the night. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson split the majority of the minutes at the point for the remainder of the game. It didn't matter. The Hornets shot lights out from deep and never did allow anyone to replace Bibby's mastery of Mike Woodson's offense.

His absence was noticeable. The Hawks never did find an offensive flow without their veteran floor leader.

"Bibby's our quarterback," said Hawks forward Marvin Williams, who scored 17 points. "It's tough when your general goes down like that."

• Al Horford snuck onto the TNT set Thursday for the second consecutive season. "I've been interested in production, just being behind the scenes," Horford said. "But people keep telling me I have a chance to be on camera and do some stuff like that."

• While his team went into the weekend leading the Eastern Conference with the best record in the NBA, coach Mike Woodson is doing his best to push the idea of dreaming and doing big things.

  "Yeah, the team is starting to get exposure, but you expect that when you're at the top of your division and you've got the best record in the East," he said. "The bottom line is we're taking it one game at a time, because if you're not, you can be beat."

Quote To Note:

"Show me the team that's won them all. Then I'll start worrying."

—F Josh Smith, after the Hawks' winning streak ended Saturday at New Orleans.

Rotation:

Starters—Point guard Mike Bibby, Shooting guard Joe Johnson, Small forward Marvin Williams, Power forward Josh Smith, Center Al Horford. Bench—Guard Jamal Crawford, Guard Jeff Teague, Forward Mo Evans, Forward Joe Smith, Forward/center Zaza Pachulia.

Player Notes:

• G Jamal Crawford was big off the bench for the Hawks, as always. He led the team in scoring with 20 points.

• F Mo Evans will get the playing time he's been longing for depending on how long G Mike Bibby is sidelined.

• G Joe Johnson played monster minutes Friday night against Houston and again Saturday night against the Hornets. Coach Mike Woodson promised he would steer clear of playing his captain those sorts of minutes this season, but he couldn't help himself.

Medical Watch:

• G Mike Bibby (sprained left ankle) left the Nov. 21 game. The extent of the injury wasn't immediately known.