Dennis Schroder benched after bickering with Dwight Howard

ATLANTA — Dennis Schroder sounds miffed about getting benched. Dwight Howard insists it’s no big deal. Mike Budenholzer says his team has to learn play together.

One thing is certain: The Atlanta Hawks are in a bit of disarray heading toward the final month of the NBA regular season.

Schroder was yanked early in the third quarter of Monday night’s 119-111 loss to the Golden State Warriors after arguing with Howard about an errant pass.

While the two were angrily exchanging words, the Warriors got the ball to Stephen Curry for an open 3-pointer.

Budenholzer wound up sending Schroder to the bench with 8:41 to go in the third, even though he led the Hawks with 23 points. The 23-year-old German never returned, merely a spectator as Atlanta took its sixth loss in eight games to slip back further in the Eastern Conference standings.

“I don’t understand Coach’s decision,” Schroder said. “Maybe I’m too competitive, I don’t know. I’m just trying to be competitive, trying to win games. But I don’t get that one.”

Budenholzer was tight-lipped, calling it a “coaching decision.”

“We need to learn to play together and stay together for 48 minutes,” he said. “That’s something that’s very important to us.”

Schroder has run into other problems in his first year as a Hawks starter. After the All-Star break, he was late reporting back to the team and served a onegame suspension. Then the very next night, he was late for the team bus and came off the bench for a game at Orlando.

Now it looks as if he is headed for a summit with Budenholzer and Howard.

“We’ve got to figure it out, me and coach,” Schroder said. “I want to talk about it. Dwight’s got to be in there, too. Get on the same page. Then we’re going to be all right.”

Howard downplayed the incident and said he looks forward to smoothing things over with his teammate, but the whole affair raised more troubling questions about an eight-time All-Star center who joined Atlanta this season with a reputation for causing problems in the locker room.