Al Horford and Mike Bibby will go opening night in Atlanta

The Hawks received good news today after learning that their all five of their starters will be healthy and cleared to play tomorrow night in the Atlanta Hawks’ opening night.

It was only 48 hours ago that both Al Horford and Mike Bibby were at the practice facility receiving treatment from their injuries.

Horford is going to play even though he sprained his ankle in the Hawks’ preseason finale against the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Bibby’s injury actually occurred during the team’s Sunday practice.  He sprained his left (non-shooting) wrist while participating in team drills.

“You always get nervous when any of your players go down,” small forward Marvin Williams said.  “I’m just glad they’re both going to be okay and ready to play against Indiana.  You want everybody healthy and read to go to start a season.  That’s always a top priority.”

Atlanta is no stranger to having starters and key players missing games because of his injury.  Last season the Hawks saw Horford, Williams, and Josh Smith miss a total of 42 games, just more than half of the season.

“It can hurt you,” head coach Mike Woodson said.  “We’ve been fortunate the last two years to avoid some of that.  It didn’t really bites us bad last year until the playoffs.  Hopefully, we can stay away from that and stay strong throughout the year, because above all things, that’s the key to having a strong season.”