Kent Bazemore was a full participant in shootaround Saturday morning and it appears the Hawks starting small forward will return to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Rockets. A decision on his status will be made after a pregame workout.
Bazemore missed Thursday’s win over the Nuggets with what the team called a right knee bone bruise. He is listed as probable on the team’s injury report.
“Today I felt great running, did some lateral stuff and shooting afterward,” Bazemore said. “We’ll see how it reacts for the next few hours.”
Bazemore said he planned to play but “you never know what can happen.”
Bazemore described the injury as a hyper-extension of his knee that occurred in the third quarter on Wednesday’s win at the Pistons.
“I got a steal and I laid it up and I was looking to see if it went in because it was an awkward angle,” Bazemore said. “I landed on my left leg and all my weight was on that but I can down on (my right) foot and it kind of hyper-extended it a little bit.”
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said a decision would be made closer to game time.
“We’ll see how he feels through the course of the day,” Budenholzer said. “We’ll probably let him warm up or go through a pre-game workout and make sure everything is good and ready to go.”
Budenholzer said if Bazemore cannot play, he is inclined to start Tim Hardaway Jr. again. Hardaway started against the Nuggets and had 21 points. The Rockets’ James Harden will present a defensive challenge for the Hawks as the guard is second in the NBA in scoring.
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