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Ivan Johnson shatters backboard during Hawks practice, reacts to it in very Ivan Johnson way (VIDEO)

After a six-point preseason loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night, the Atlanta Hawks traveled to the gym at Butler University in Indianapolis on Monday morning, eager to correct some mistakes and continue preparing for the regular season. But before the clock struck noon on the East Coast, according to the team's Twitter feed (and, subsequently, Hawks teammates Mike Scott, Al Horford, James Anderson and Anthony Tolliver, as well as Hawks player development instructor Nick Van Exel), practice was called on account of extreme violence against plexiglas. Behold:

The perpetrator of this glass-shattering (which we'd have to imagine the folks at Butler aren't super thrilled about)? None other than Ivan Johnson, Atlanta's diamond-grill-rockin', non-NBA-watchin', rough-and-tumble-shot-destroyin', Celtics-fan-bird-flippin' power forward, who appeared pretty much out of nowhere last season and became an Internet fan favorite due in large part to his combination of physicality and plain-spoken awesomeness.

After the shattered backboard gave us the physicality, it was time for the plain-spoken awesomeness. Ivan, naturally, did not disappoint:

"Ehh, it's just the way I work out. I work out hard," a totally nonplussed Johnson said when asked what happened. "In everything we do."

The glass-breaking was a first for Johnson, whose years-long journey — from Pac-10 prospect to Division II beast, from banned in Korea to D-League standout, from grinding it out in China to an NBA call-up — has been the stuff of legend. (He does note, however, that he has "knocked some screws out before.")

So Ivan, given the rarity of the event and the accomplishment of dunking with enough ferocity to end practice, feel like commemorating the occasion with a photo?

"No," he said with a dismissive laugh. "Probably not. It's nothing."

Of course it isn't. Please continue being awesome, Ivan Johnson. As if you could ever do anything else.

Video via the Hawks' official YouTube channel. Hat-tip on the breakage to NBA.com's John Schuhmann.

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