Credit: Chris Vivlamore
Credit: Chris Vivlamore
Dennis Schroder will make his fourth straight start at point guard as the Hawks take on the Clippers Tuesday. The Hawks recent lineup remains unchanged despite the fact that regular starting point guard Jeff Teague has been ruled healthy enough to play.
Teague missed the past three games with a left hamstring strain. He was upgraded to probable Tuesday afternoon.
“Jeff is going to play tonight,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We are going to start Dennis and bring Jeff off the bench.”
When asked what the thought process was concerning the starting lineup, Budenholzer said: “There are a lot of things. I think it’s good for everybody. We’ll see how Jeff is feeling and how he is doing.”
Teague was injured in the first half of Monday’s win over the Bulls and finished the game. He missed the next three games – all road wins over the Cavaliers, Rockets and Mavericks. During that stretch, Schroder averaged 13.3 points, including a career-high 22 points Monday against the Mavericks, 7.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds.
When asked in the change to the starting lineup would be permanent, Budenholzer simply answered “No.”
The Hawks did consider holding Teague out Tuesday with off days to follow on Wednesday and Thursday before back-to-back games with the Bucks.
“Coaches, we have a lot of time on flights and in meetings,” Budenholzer said. “We talk about everything. I think we have been, hopefully, appropriately cautious and err on the side of protecting them and making sure they are healthy. He feels good. The training staff and medical staff has done a great job with him. I think he is ready.”
In an interesting side note, I was walking down the hallway with Clippers coach Doc Rivers following his pregame interview. He paused at a photo of Schroder on the wall, tapped it and said 'This kid is good."
Rivers also said he wanted to draft Schroder two years ago when he was with the Celtics.
