Hawks coach/executive Mike Budenholzer, who was absent from Friday’s game, is back coaching the Hawks Sunday, as Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution details. Budenholzer had stayed with his family in Atlanta following his wife’s undisclosed medical emergency. “The support from the staff and the players and everybody has been great,” Budenholzer said, per Vivlamore. “I’m just appreciative of that.” Assistant coach Kenny Atkinson took Budenholzer’s place for the Hawks against the Celtics Friday.
Here’s more news out of Atlanta:
- The Hawks recalled Edy Tavares and Lamar Patterson from the D-League Sunday, the team announced in a press release. Patterson, a 2014 second-round draft pick, has appeared in seven of the Hawks’ 11 games. He has averaged 2.4 points, 1.3 assists and 1.0 rebounds in about 13 minutes per contest. Tavares has played only one minute this season for Atlanta.
- Hawks shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha, a 2017 free agent, said he is getting close to being fully healthy and understands all the attention he received stemming from an incident outside a New York nightclub in April, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe writes. Sefolosha, 31, is filing a civil suit after suffering a broken leg and ankle ligament damage in an encounter with police. The experience also made Sefolosha more conscious of his realistic timetable left as a player in the league, Washburn adds. “To this day I’m still battling with that in a way, because I don’t know how I’m going to feel two months from now, or I think I’m taking the proper steps [to get better],” Sefolosha said. “I think I was focusing on getting back so much that I didn’t have time to focus on what if. It’s a process every day.” Sefolosha has played in eight games so far this season and is averaging 6.8 points per game. He has averaged 5.8 points per game for his career.
The Hawks missed Sefolosha during the playoffs. The Eastern finals could have been much more interesting with his defensive presence.