The Hawks’ starters were to be nearly whole again Monday night in their regular-season home finale against the Knicks, but Paul Millsap will miss his fifth consecutive game with a strained right shoulder and contusion.
No Atlanta starters played in Sunday’s loss at Washington as coach Mike Budenholzer opted to rest them since the Hawks have locked up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with back-to-back games ahead.
Millsap hasn’t played since an April 4 home win over Brooklyn.
Al Horford started in his power forward spot with Mike Muscala moving into Horford’s center spot.
Budenholzer suggested that Millsap won’t need much game work in order to be ready for the playoffs, although Horford and point guard Jeff Teague conceded that it would probably be good for the All-Star forward – moreso than the team — to get some action in Wednesday’s regular-season finale at Chicago.
“I think it would be good for Paul to play, not necessarily for us,” Horford said. “I think it would be good for Paul to get in and play a little bit, and get a feel before the playoffs.”
Millsap, who averaged 16.8 points and 7.8 rebounds over 72 games, was not available to the media before Monday’s game. Fellow starters Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll and Horford will start.
Their playing time against the Knicks (16-64) remains to be seen as the Hawks (60-20) wind toward the postseason.
Atlanta will also be without backups Pero Antic (illness), Dennis Schroder (rest) and Thabo Sefolosha (broken fibula).
“It would probably be good to get a game in, but if not he’s had enough,” Teague said of Millsap. “He’s always in a pretty good rhythm; he keeps himself well prepared. We’ve been doing the same thing for two years so it’s not a big adjustment.”
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