The Hawks played without Zaza Pachulia for a fourth consecutive game Saturday. A sore right Achilles has bothered the center for a month and a half.
Pachulia has missed 10 of the past 21 games with the issue. The team lists Pachulia as day-to-day, although there is no clear timetable on when he might return.
“He has seen doctors,” coach Larry Drew said. “Right now we are waiting to see how he progresses. It won’t be anything that we rush. We’ll wait on whenever he feels he can come back, or if he can come back. Right now, he’s just day-to-day.”
The Hawks did get Ivan Johnson back for Saturday’s game against the Nets. Johnson did not travel with the team to Boston for Friday’s game against the Celtics because of personal reasons.
Petro in lineup: Without Pachulia, and facing the Nets' 7-foot center Brook Lopez, the Hawks started Johan Petro for a second consecutive game. Petro had two points against the Celtics, but his play kept Al Horford foul-free for most of the game. That allowed Horford to defend the Celtics' Kevin Garnett down the stretch of the overtime loss.
“We definitely want to try to get a same size matchup as possible,” Drew said of the 7-foot Petro defending Lopez.
Defending Korver: The Celtics limited Kyle Korver to three points, on 1-of-5 shooting, Friday. Drew said it was evident the Celtics were determined not to let the NBA's leading 3-point shooter beat them. Korver had eight second-half 3's in a double-overtime win over the Celtics on Jan. 25.
“It was obvious,” Drew said. “It was almost like they were playing box-and-one the way they defended him. They were face-guarding him everywhere he went. The guy guarding Korver was never in a help position. After what he did to them in the game here, the way he shot the basketball, it was obvious their game plan was not to give him any open looks. They wanted to take away as many catch-and-shoot situations as they could.
“We’ve got to find ways to get him open. That being said, we don’t want to change our game, per se, but a guy like him and what he brings to the club, we’ve got to find ways to get him open.”
