Jeff Teague was the one Hawks player to appear in every game this season.
Not anymore.
Teague missed Wednesday night’s game against the Lakers with the left ankle sprain suffered Tuesday in Miami. Josh Smith also did not play.
Teague was injured in the third quarter against the Heat. He had his ankle re-taped, but did not return as the game got out of hand late. Smith sprained his left knee against the Heat after getting tangled up with Udonis Haslem.
“He came in and got it treated today,” coach Larry Drew said of Teague. “He went through our walk-through, and he didn’t feel too good.”
Teague had played in 139 consecutive regular-season games and has never missed a game because of injury in his four seasons. He last did not play March 23, 2010.
Drew said he found out about Smith’s injury only Wednesday.
Replacing Teague: Devin Harris started in place of Teague at point guard. The Hawks rounded out a starting lineup with Dahntay Jones, Anthony Tolliver, Al Horford and Johan Petro. It was the 23rd different lineup used by the Hawks this season, and Jones started for the first time since his acquisition at the NBA trade deadline.
Jones drew the assignment of guarding the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, with DeShawn Stevenson unavailable on the second of back-to-back games.
“Our last meeting, in L.A., we matched up DeShawn against Kobe,” Drew said. “Dahntay gives us that same presence.
“We have to do a good job on Kobe. He got away from us the last time we played them. He made some big shots against us.”
Out again: In the final piece of the Hawks' lengthy injury report, Zaza Pachulia missed his sixth consecutive game with a sore right Achilles. Pachulia sought a third medical opinion on the issue Wednesday regarding what the team has deemed a serious concern.
The center has missed 12 of the past 23 games with the injury.
The Hawks were left with a bench of John Jenkins, Ivan Johnson, Kyle Korver, Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack.
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