BOSTON — The Hawks could face the top team in the NBA without one of their top players. The team listed guard Dejounte Murray as questionable ahead of its matchup against the Celtics on Wednesday night.
Because of injuries, the Hawks have leaned heavily on Murray, who they say is dealing with lower back tightness, and he has missed only one game this season. Through 49 games, he has averaged 21.4 points per game, with 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.
He’s found another gear lately, too, putting up 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists in his past 10 games to help the Hawks win five games in that span. He scored 21 points, had five rebounds and seven assists in the team’s loss to the Clippers on Monday, extending his current streak of games with 10-or-more points to 33 consecutive games, the third-longest such streak of his career and only two games from tying his second-longest streak.
Whenever the Hawks dealt with injuries in their starting backcourt, they’ve tapped Bogdan Bogdanovic to start in place of the injured player.
The Hawks already don’t have center Clint Capela, who is out with a left adductor strain. They did, however, announce that forward De’Andre Hunter (right knee-injury management) is available to play.
Wednesday night’s game tips off at 7:30 p.m. at TD Garden in Boston.