The hits just keep on coming for the Atlanta Hawks this postseason. After it seemed they would be the reluctant benefactors of both Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry being out for the Heat, they were delivered with their own significant bit of injury news when it was reported that Bogdan Bogdanovic would miss Game 5 with the Hawks facing elimination.
Atlanta has struggled for consistent offense this series and was counting on Bogdanovic to help them solve the riddle that is Miami’s defense. He did not have a good outing in Game 4, finishing with just four points in a little over 20 minutes.
After the game, Nate McMillan was evasive in answering questions about the sixth man’s health and only said the five-year NBA vet received “normal treatment” treatment at practice on Monday.
Now, the Hawks find themselves down a man. But do they still have the upper hand?
Bogdan Bogdanovic’s knee has been giving him problems again
NBA TV’s Rebecca Haarlow reported the update about an hour before the game was scheduled to begin. She confirmed an earlier report that Bogdanovic was going to be out, noting the surprise of the impending absence of who she termed as the Hawks “second-most consistent scorer” in the postseason.
“He’s been dealing with that right knee over the course of the last couple of weeks. So he has been playing with some degree of pain throughout this series. But then, this morning when he went through shootaround, he was feeling an elevated level of pain. And then tonight when he went out to warm up, the trainers felt it wasn’t safe for him to play tonight”
Just Monday, McMillan told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner that he pulled Bogdanovic because he “looked like he had tired legs” and that he would have gone back to him in a tighter game.
Many were speculating the cause of Boganovic’s low minutes so the revelation that he has been dealing with it for such a period of time is noteworthy.
He came into the season still dealing with offseason surgery for an avulsion fracture suffered last season. Bogdanovic has missed time with soreness in that knee this season as well as an ankle injury.
His net rating is the second-best among the normal rotation players this postseason, albeit at minus-5.7, only behind fellow reserve guard, Delon Wright.
The Hawks still have Young as well as Clint Capela but this is a situation to monitor regardless of if they move on or not due to the changes that may or may not be coming to this roster after this season.