In an encouraging sign for the Hawks, center Clint Capela has made significant progress coming back from his right knee injury and was upgraded to questionable on Saturday’s injury report ahead of Game 4 on Sunday.
That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to play, but it indicates it’s a possibility and that overall he’s on the right path. It’s likely that the Hawks and coach Nate McMillan will see how Capela is feeling Sunday and let him warm up before the game before making a final decision.
Capela, who hyperextended his right knee in the Hawks’ play-in tournament win in Cleveland on April 15, has missed the first three games of the No. 8-seed Hawks’ first-round playoff series vs. No. 1-seed Miami. He went down in serious pain that day after Evan Mobley fell on Capela’s leg, after Capela fouled Mobley, needing help to walk back to the locker room.
Capela still made the trip with the team to Miami and began rehab work, moving side to side and started working with the ball a bit, getting up some free throws before Game 2 Tuesday. At practice Saturday, back at the Hawks’ practice facility, Capela was moving much better. He was running up and down the court, catching lobs, dunking and also finishing through contact.
This could be seen during the final portion of practice, when media members are allowed to watch.
“Damn right,” teammate John Collins said of whether Capela’s activity at practice was encouraging to see. “You never like to see a guy like CC or any of your teammates go down, so it’s just great to see him back out here moving, trying to do some explosive work.”
Getting Capela back for Game 4, or at some point in the series, would be a huge boost for the Hawks, who lost Games 1 and 2 in Miami before rallying to win Game 3 at State Farm Arena on Friday night. They’ve sorely missed his rebounding, physicality, back-line defense and pairing as a pick-and-roll partner for Trae Young. He also opens up things for ball-handlers as a screener, which could be of immense value against a physical, disruptive Heat defense.
Officially, McMillan declined to give an update on Capela on Saturday. However, Capela was upgraded to questionable on Saturday evening’s injury report (he had simply been listed as “out” ahead of Games 1-3).
When asked directly if Capela would be available to play in Game 4, McMillan said: “No updates. No updates. He’s going through this. We’ll see what happens. … I’m just saying there’s no updates. I can’t give you that answer today. We’ll see how he feels after this workout. I’ll get that information really (Sunday) on how he feels and if there’s any change.”
On his radio show, Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk told 92.9 the Game on Tuesday that Capela would be re-evaluated Friday (the day of Game 3). The team still has not released any information or details on that re-evaluation, though his upgraded status would indicate a positive result.
After starting the series down 2-0 to the Heat, the Hawks clawed their way to 2-1 with a 111-110 win Friday at State Farm Arena, with furious bench play from Delon Wright, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Onyeka Okongwu leading the way. Young made a go-ahead floater with 5.5 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, and the Hawks got a stop on the other end to seal the win.
Without Capela and with Collins somewhat on the mend, playing through a right foot strain and right ring finger sprain, in Games 2 and 3 the Hawks have started Collins at center (which he used to play much more of before the Hawks acquired Capela, allowing Collins to slide back to his natural position at power forward). Backup second-year center Okongwu played a stellar fourth quarter in Game 3, bringing energy on defense and matching the Heat’s physical nature.
But, getting Capela back at some point, in addition to Collins coming along and Okongwu playing well off the bench, would put the Hawks in a much better, deeper position than they’ve been in the first three games of the series.
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