Hawkes, 8th East, Macmillan Fire Coach

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks fired Nate McMillan Tuesday, who couldn’t match his success in 2021 when he led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Landry Fields, the Atlanta general manager, announced the firing. The Falcons have a 29-30 record and are in eighth place in the conference this season.

Assistant coach Joe Bronte will take over on an interim basis. Join the Hawks family in July 2021.

McMillan, 58, has been 99-80 in the quarterback role at Atlanta, including a 27-11 transition as interim in the second half of the 2020-21 season. His success that season earned him permanent appointment.

However, he faltered in his attempts to improve Atlanta’s defense, a perennial weakness on the team, dwarfing the high production of point guard Trae Young.

McMillan denied reports earlier this season that he planned to quit.

In 19 seasons, McMillan has a record of 760-668 with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers and Hawks.

“I would like to thank Nate for his leadership and professionalism during his time with the Falcons,” Fields said in a statement. “He truly is a first-rate gentleman, and we appreciate the grace and work ethic he brings to the table every day.”

The Hawks finished the 2021-22 season with a record of 43-39. After surviving the mini-tournament, they lost 4-1 to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

Atlanta confirmed that they were looking for short-term success, relinquishing Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks to the San Antonio Spurs for star guard D’Jaunt Murray.

The trade brought Murray and Young back together. But pressure mounted on Macmillan to lead the Hawks to the top of the conference.

Instead, it languished near the . 500 mark for most of the season. They lost four of their six games before the All-Star break.

They are one game ahead of Toronto, and tenth in the East. Thus, it seems that they are closer to being excluded from the mini-tournament than to rising to sixth place, which is the last that guarantees a place in the playoffs.

The Knicks are sixth, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Hawks.