Do you want the good news or the bad news first, Atlanta Hawks fans?
Let’s start with the bad news.
Paul Millsap has missed each of the last five games with a knee injury, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be returning too soon, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Chris Vivlamore:
Paul Millsap will be out at least three more games after the Hawks forward was diagnosed with left knee synovitis following a visit to Dr. James Andrews and conferring with team doctors. Millsap underwent a non-surgical procedure following the diagnosis.
According to the team, Millsap visited the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Pensacola, Florida and conferred with Dr. Kyle Hammond and Dr. Kenneth Mautner of the Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center.
Millsap will be re-evaluated following the three missed games – versus the Suns Tuesday, at the 76ers Wednesday and at the Bulls Saturday. His status will be updated as appropriate, according to the team.
Talk about your overdose of late-season bad news. The Hawks are 0-5 since Millsap went down. Each of their next two games, against the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers, are winnable without him, but nothing is a given. Both the Suns and Sixers can be plucky on occasion, especially the latter.
Then, on Saturday night, the Hawks will be facing a bad-yet-desperate Chicago Bulls squad that’s still in the mix for a playoff berth. That doesn’t bode exceptionally well for them, exponentially increasing the importance of those matchups with the Suns and Sixers.
Worse still, the Hawks are locked in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. By the end of this three-game stretch, they could be the seven-seed—or, with the Miami Heat trailing them by two games, even the eight-seed, setting up a first-round death sentence against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
As for the good news, Hawks fans: At least y’all don’t root for the Knicks.
