There were so many things to be happy about from last night, and I mentioned many of them in Everything You Need To Know, but here is a short list of what I loved:

- Al Horford's emerging offensive game
- Anthony Johnson's 14-assist, 3-turnover virtuoso performance
- Mario West hitting, I believe, his first jumper of the season
- Marvin Williams taking it repeatedly to the hole
-  Joe Johnson reasserting himself as the team's top dog
- The fact that we outrebounded the Jazz, 38-32, and pulled down almost as many offensive boards (14) as Utah had defensive (16)
- We did all of this without the services of Josh Childress, Tyronn Lue, Speedy Claxton, Acie Law, Salim Stoudamire, and Lorenzen Wright

The overall thing I take away from last night is this: the Jazz played, all things considered, a pretty good game. They played at their pace, did all the things they typically like to do, and yet the Hawks came away with a win. In my mind, last night's win erases two losses - the fourth quarter meltdown against the Jazz from last year that sent the season into a tailspin, and the double-OT loss to Seattle back on November 16. Assume we should have won that game and probably would expect to lose to Utah, and I think we've done just about what has been expected of us so far.

I talked to both Joe and AJ after practice today (where, needless to say, spirits were high), and they both agreed last night was a big night. I asked Joe about erasing the memories of last year, and AJ talked about where this game ranks amongst his personal best performances.

The guys are definitely enjoying the fruits of last night's win, and I am too - and if we can keep it up and beat Miami on Wednesday, I'll feel even better.

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