Thabo Sefolosha remains in the Hawks starting lineup.
And it appears the small forward isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Sefolosha will make his third straight start tonight against the Raptors. It will be his fifth start in the past six Hawks’ games. The streak began when he made his first start of the season at the Cavaliers on Nov. 21. The only game Sefolosha missed since was against the Grizzlies last week when he was inactive in the first of back-to-back games.
Kent Bazemore has started most of the games at small forward, especially early in the season when the Hawks were brining Sefolosha back slowly from surgery on a broken right fibula and ankle ligament damage. Sefolosha became the starter in earnest when Bazemore missed five games with a right ankle sprain.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday morning whether Sefolosha would remain in the starting lineup. He said: “I think Baze has done well. I think Thabo has done well. We feel fortunate that we have two guys who can be in that spot. So, I think (we are) finding different combinations. For right now, we are sticking with it. Thabo, his length and having guarded the best players for a long time in the league. Having Baze with that second group, another guy that (can) attack and play pick-and-roll and dribble and do some things. We’ll see how it goes.”
In all, Sefolosha has started five of his 16 games. He has averaged 7.3 point, 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.6 blocks in 24.3 minutes. He played a season-high 39 minutes in Monday’s win over the Thunder. Budenholzer said Sefolosha was fine physically after the extended playing time.
Bazemore has started 13 of his 15 games. He has averaged 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks in 27.7 minutes.
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