Malcolm Delaney was back in the Atlanta Hawks rotation Saturday night after a five-game absence. Delaney finished with eight points, two rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes against the Trail Blazers and Mike Budenholzer told reporters after the game that while his defense wasn’t the reason for the move, they thought it would help against Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
“I liked Malcolm. We’ve talked about his defense all year. It wasn’t the reason we did it but when you have McCollum and Lillard those are two of the toughest covers in the league,” Budenholzer said.