NEW ORLEANS — Hawks starting point guard Jeff Teague is day-to-day with an ankle sprain and is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Hornets.
Teague was injured in Friday night’s 107-101 overtime win at the Pistons. He played 21 minutes, scoring two points (1-of-3 shooting) with three assists and three turnovers.
Coach Larry Drew said Teague could not return when his ankle stiffened after having the injury taped. Teague participated in part of the team’s practice Saturday.
“He was out here getting some shots up,” Drew said. “He’s moving around on it pretty good. They are still treating it. It will be a day-to-day decision.”
Kirk Hinrich, playing his second game since shoulder surgery, entered Friday’s game with 3:48 left in the third quarter and played the rest of the way. Hinrich said he was “gassed” following the game in which he played 32 minutes with five points and nine assists.
Drew said he was prepared to substitute with Jannero Pargo, but decided to remain with Hinrich as the Hawks eventually erased a six-point deficit in the final 39.9 seconds on back-to-back 3-pointers by Marvin Williams and Joe Johnson to force overtime.
“I saw [Hinrich] was getting a little winded, so I was prepared to throw Pargo in there, but I made the decision to use my timeouts where he could get some rest,” Drew said. “I kept asking him every timeout, ‘How you feeling, how you feeling?’ He said ‘I’m OK.’”
As much of a concern as Teague’s ankle may be, Drew and the Hawks have to be troubled by the team’s poor starts of late. They did not start well in a loss to the Spurs on Wednesday night, which they could not overcome, and against the Pistons, who led 46-35 at halftime.
Part of the issue may be the Hawks’ travel schedule. They currently are on a five-game, nine-day road trip, with games remaining against the Hornets and Raptors.
Drew also is concerned that the Hawks not take their opposition lightly. They struggled with the four-win Pistons. The Hornets won their fourth game Friday night by defeating the Magic, snapping a nine-game losing streak.
“When you are not making shots [early], that gets you off to a little bit of a slow start,” Drew said. “Sometimes you don’t look at an opponent how we would look at a Chicago versus how we look at a team like Detroit that has obviously struggled. Sometimes that factors into it.
“As a team we are going to have to figure it out, particularly our starters. When we get off to slow starts, it takes a little bit of a wake-up call to get us going. Sometimes it’s going to be a situation where it’s going to be too late.”
Drew cautioned that the Hornets have played well despite the results of nine consecutive losses before Friday’s 93-67 win. Their average margin of defeat during the nine-game slide was 6.1 points, including three two-point defeats.
“Going into New Orleans, as starters we have to come out better early,” forward Josh Smith said. “Take away the wins and loss totals, these teams plays hard. New Orleans plays well at home.”
Etc.
Johnson and Smith did not practice Saturday as Drew said each were “a little tired, a little banged up.” ... Drew said he expected to remain with Zaza Pachulia as the starting center against the Hornets. ... The Hawks arrived in New Orleans at 3 a.m. local time after Friday’s game in Detroit.
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