No good news, Millsap to miss fourth straight game

Millsap missed the previous three games, including the two games of the Hawks’ current road trip, due to left knee tightness. At the time the injury was announced, Millsap was to miss at least the first two games of the trip at the Hornets and Wizards. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the Hawks’ 104-100 loss to the Wizards Wednesday a decision would be made Thursday morning on Millsap’s status. There was not enough progress for Millsap to return to the lineup. Budenholzer said recently he considered the injury “short-term.”

No Millsap is the bad news. An 0-6 record this season without their four-time All-Star is the really bad news. Millsap is the Hawks’ leading scorer and is second in rebound, assists and steals.

“Learning to play without Paul is going to be important for us,” Budenholzer said after the loss to the Wizards. “He’s not going to be able to play all 48 minutes. Can we get more efficient? Can we get better defensively? Can we get better offensively? Maybe not be as dependent upon him. There was some progress tonight. Until he comes back, we are going to have to make more progress.”

The Hawks will also be without starting guard Kent Bazemore, who is sidelined with a right knee bone bruise. Bazemore will miss his third straight game.

The Hawks (37-34) are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. They defeated the fourth-place Raptors on March 10 to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker. Things were looking up. The Hawks won the next night at the Grizzlies but haven’t won since.

With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the hold on the fifth seed is tenuous. Entering Thursday’s NBA schedule, the Hawks led the Bucks and Pacers by one game and the Heat by two games for the final playoff spots in the conference.

The Hawks were beaten soundly by the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers and Hornets in Millsap’s absence. They led for much of the game against the Wizards before a nearly five-minute drought without a field goal led to a decisive fourth-quarter run by the hosts. A four-point lead turned into a 12-point deficit. Although the Hawks would close to within three points in the final minutes, the damage was done.

Budenholzer and players found positives to take from the loss even as their playoff chances can now be considered in jeopardy.

“It’s the time of the season right now where dwelling on the negative nothing good will come of it,” Thabo Sefolosha said. “We go to practice. We work hard. We have to be honest with each other and talk about what we see. After a game like this we just have to be positive.”

The Hawks are in the midst of a 10-game stretch where eight of the 10 opponents had a below .500 record. They are 0-4 in those games having played the above .500 Grizzlies and Wizards. Following the game at the Bucks, who now sit at .500, the Hawks host the Nets on Sunday, Suns on Tuesday and travel to the 76ers on Wednesday, the Bulls on April 1 and the Nets on April 2. The final five games of the regular season are the Cavaliers twice, Celtics, Hornets and Pacers.