Lou Williams Out For The Rest Of The Season With Torn ACL

The Atlanta Hawks face a devastating blow to their team. Starting SG Lou Williams suffered a torn ACL in the Hawks' game on January 18th in Brooklyn against the Nets and will be done for the rest of the season. Atlanta faced a similar situation last January when center Al Horford tore his left pectoral muscle which required surgery.

Hawks' SG Lou Williams tore his ACL in a loss at Brooklyn

Lou Williams has been a huge contributor for the Hawks this season as he was acquired from Philadelphia in free agency last summer. Williams was Atlanta's sixth man but made the transition into the starting lineup. The Hawks have used many different starting lineups this season but saw that Lou Williams brings the energy to the team and can have a huge game on any given night. Williams has been a huge factor in many of Atlanta's fourth quarter comebacks.

Although this may be a huge loss for Atlanta, they may be able to handle this situation well. As I pointed out, they lost Horford for the second half of the season in 2012 but they still performed well and skyrocketed with huge momentum heading into the playoffs. Horford returned to play two games for Atlanta but lost in the first round to the Boston Celtics.

Losing Williams for the rest of the season leaves a huge hole to fill in the starting lineup but the Hawks have key players and many guards who can fill Williams' role such as Devin Harris, Kyle Korver and rookie John Jenkins. Williams may be gone but the Hawks still have key players in their starting lineup such as Josh Smith, Al Horford and Jeff Teague.

With Lou Williams being gone, many Hawks fans may start to panic. With the talent on this team, Atlanta can still be a threat in the Eastern conference. With great sharpshooters like Kyle Korver and John Jenkins and players who dominate the paint such as Josh Smith and Al Horford, the Hawks can beat anybody on any given night. Keep your heads up, Atlanta. Until next time, GO HAWKS!!!-Yuriy A.