HAWKS MILLSAP OUT AGAIN AS TEAM FACES BUCKS

MILWAUKEE — No Paul Millsap. Again.

The good news the Hawks had been hoping for was not forthcoming Thursday.

Millsap will miss a fourth straight game when the Hawks face the Bucks tonight. The power forward did not join the team here, meaning no relief for a team mired in a five-game losing streak that now finds itself fighting for any playoff spot.

Millsap missed the previous three games, including the two games of the Hawks’ current road trip, with left knee tightness. When the injury was disclosed, it was expected Millsap would miss at least the first two games of the trip at the Hornets and Wizards.

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the Hawks’ 104-100 loss to the Wizards on Wednesday a decision would be made Thursday morning on Millsap’s status. But there was not enough progress for Millsap to return. Budenholzer had said recently he considered the injury “short-term.”

No Millsap is the bad news. An 0-6 record this season without their four-time All-Star is the really bad news. Millsap is the Hawks’ leading scorer and is second in rebounding, assists and steals.

“Learning to play without Paul is going to be important for us,” Budenholzer said after the loss to the Wizards. “He’s not going to be able to play all 48 minutes. Can we get more efficient? Can we get better defensively? Can we get better offensively? Maybe not be as dependent upon him? There was some progress (Wednesday night). Until he comes back, we are going to have to make more progress.”

The Hawks also be without starting guard Kent Bazemore, who is sidelined with a right knee bone bruise. Bazemore will miss his third straight game.

The Hawks (37-34) are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings. They defeated the fourth-place Raptors on March 10 to secure the headto-head tiebreaker and things were looking up. They won the next night at Toronto but haven’t won since.

With 11 games left in the regular season, the Hawks’ hold on the fifth seed is tenuous. Entering Thursday’s NBA schedule, the Hawks led the Bucks and Pacers by one game and the Heat by two games for the final playoff spots in the conference.

The Hawks were beaten soundly by the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers and Hornets without Millsap. They led for much of the game against the Wizards before a nearly five-minute drought without a field goal led to a decisive fourth-quarter run by the hosts. A four-point lead turned into a 12-point deficit.

Budenholzer and the players found positives in the loss even as their playoff chances can now be considered in jeopardy.

“It’s the time of the season right now where dwelling on the negative, nothing good will come of it,” Thabo Sefolosha said. “We go to practice. We work hard. We have to be honest with each other and talk about what we see. After a game like this, we just have to be positive.”

The Hawks are in the midst of a 10-game stretch when eight of the 10 opponents had a sub-.500 record. They are 0-4 in those games, having played the plus-.500 Grizzlies and Wizards.