Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer will be suspended for a game after bumping into an official during Friday night’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had the Atlanta Hawks’ number in recent years. Since LeBron James left the Miami Heat for his hometown Cavaliers in 2014 NBA free agency, Atlanta has struggled mightily with this Eastern Conference power, despite being a good team themselves.
In a tight ball game going down to the wire in Atlanta on Friday night, Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer was assessed a technical foul for something he said to an official. Cleveland would go on to win the contest over Atlanta 135-130, but that’s not the end of the story for Budenholzer.
Apparently Budenholzer made contact with the official from behind on this questionable no call on James. Budenholzer would explode on the Atlanta sidelines after James pretty much shoved Hawks small forward Kent Bazemore to the hardwood. The NBA has decided that Budenholzer will be suspended for one game because of the incident.
So Budenholzer will be suspended for the Hawks’ next game. That will be on Sunday, Mar. 5, at home against the Indiana Pacers. Atlanta should expect top assistant Darvin Ham to fill in for Budenholzer against the Pacers on Sunday afternoon.
Atlanta currently resides in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 34-27, 2.5 games back of the Washington Wizards (36-24) for first place in the Southeast Division. The Hawks will need to beat playoff worthy teams like the Pacers to hopefully get out of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 series in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
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Should that be Atlanta’s playoff destiny, that’s not great for the Hawks. That’s because Atlanta would almost certainly have to face Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Cleveland has swept Atlanta out of the playoffs the last two years. No wonder why Budenholzer got so flustered on Friday night; Cleveland straight up owns his team.