Al Horford will not return from a torn pectoral muscle for the postseason, Hawks officials reiterated Friday.
Following the diagnosis of a torn right pectoral muscle in December, the Hawks said Horford was out for the remainder of the season. Horford said as much when he met with the media in March.
“It’s my right side and my shooting arm,” Horford said then. “I need to feel 100 percent confident with it. It’s just going to be a little bit slower.”
During the 2011-12 season, Horford tore his left pectoral muscle 11 games into the season. He was able to return during the first-round playoff series with the Celtics, but admitted he wasn’t 100 percent.
The Hawks open the playoffs Saturday against the top-seeded Pacers. Team officials said Horford would not return for another series should the Hawks advance.
Horford recently started some on-court work. He was working with assistant coaches after Friday’s practice doing shooting drills.
“He’ll have that same seat (on the bench) with me,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We love having him around and having his voice and his spirit, but we have a lot of confidence in the guys that have finished this season, and that is who we will go into the playoffs with.”
Same bench rotation: Budenholzer said he expects to use a similar rotation during the playoffs and not necessarily shorten his bench.
“The plan is to keep a similar rotation going into Game 1,” Budeholzer said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in our bench, confidence in our guys. During the course of even some regular-season games you might shorten your bench a little bit and things might happen, but I think we have a lot of confidence in our bench and in our rotations.”
Korver leads NBA: Kyle Korver finished as the NBA's leader in 3-point field-goal percentage in the final regular-season statistics. Korver shot 47.2 percent (185 of 392), besting the Grizzlies' Mike Miller's 45.9 percent.
Korver is the first Hawks player to lead the NBA in 3-point percentage.
No rookie: Pero Antic will make his first trip to the NBA playoffs, but the 31-year old is no stranger to postseasons. He played in many during his European career.
“I’ve played professionally for a very long time,” Antic said. “I one of the most experienced players on my team. Every year I play in the playoffs. I’ve played a lot of playoff games. I know how it is. The fun games are starting now with all the pressure. For me, it’s fun.”
Long odds: The Hawks have 250-to-1 odds to win the NBA championship, according to Bovado. The oddsmaker released the chances for all teams in the postseason, and the Hawks share the longest odds with the Bobcats. The Heat are the favorite to repeat at 2-to-1. The Pacers have 6-to-1 odds.
The Hawks have the longest odds to win the Eastern Conference at 100-to-1.
Award for Millsap: Paul Millsap was named winner of the Bob Pettit Award for the fourth consecutive season. The Hawks forward has won the award in six of the past seven seasons. It is given annually to the most outstanding professional basketball player from a Louisiana college by the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches.
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