If there was one thing Lou Williams enjoyed more than going for 27 points at Madison Square Garden Saturday night, it was getting out of bed Sunday morning without the need of a winch.
“I was very happy to see that things responded well,” he reported Monday. The game against the Knicks represented another river crossed for Williams since his February reconstructive knee surgery: playing on consecutive nights for the first time.
“I felt fine,” he said, “just some regular soreness.”
Williams did more than just put in minutes — 29 of them — against the Knicks. He was dynamic, hitting a career-high six three-pointers, adding three assists, a couple rebounds, a steal and a block.
His rapid recovery from knee surgery, such a departure from the Derrick Rose experience, continues to be one of the real pleasant developments for the Hawks. And more and more, the limits to his playing time will be related to strategy, not orthopedics.
“We still want to be smart with him,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “When you bring a guy off the bench, there is a somewhat limited amount of minutes anybody, whether they are 100 percent healthy or not, can play. So, I think to a certain degree, we’re getting close to playing Lou as much as necessary, or as much as we want to.”
Back from Bakersfield: After six games seasoning in the NBA Development League, Hawks first-round draft pick Dennis Schroder earned a ticket back to the bigs Monday.
With the Bakersfield Jam, Schroder averaged 17 points, 6.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 turnovers, playing 34 minutes a game. Or almost triple the playing time he has been able to get with the Hawks backcourt.
“He’s played well in Bakersfield. His approach and his attitude — which is where it always starts — has been excellent,” Budenholzer said. “He has really taken advantage of this opportunity to play a lot of minutes. His defense, his attacking the paint, he’s done a lot of good things.”
Schroder termed the trip to the D-League a great experience. Now, he said, “I have to try to earn (playing) time again.”
Ayon, anyone?: Center Gustavo Ayon missed his fourth straight game with left ankle/leg injury Monday. "I think he's improving a little bit," Budenholzer said, without giving an indication when he might be fit for duty.
Stuffing the stat sheet: According to the Hawks, there are only two players in the NBA who have this broad statistical array: averaging at least 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block a game, while shooting 50 percent or better from the field. Naturally those two players are Hawks: center Al Horford and forward Paul Millsap.
“That shows who we are,” Millsap said. “The system helps us out a lot, it keeps us balanced. We’ve been stressing all year that Al and I are going to try to come in and help lead this team.”
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