ATLANTA -- Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer missed Friday night's 106-93 loss to Boston because of a family emergency.

The team announced that Budenholzer returned to Atlanta early Friday after initially traveling with the team. The Hawks asked fans and media to "respect the private nature of the situation."

"Obviously Bud had an emergency family situation, and I think we're all respecting his privacy and our thoughts are with him obviously, and his family we're all pretty close with," said Hawks assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, who handled the pregame media duties.

Atkinson coached the Hawks (8-3) against the Celtics. The team didn't give a timetable for Budenholzer's return.

"First and foremost, thinking about Bud and his family. I'm close with them," Atkinson said. "My family's close with his family. That's first and foremost and then all of a sudden you're thrown into this, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to coach today.' Bud's advice to me was get this team prepared and ready, and that's kind of my job. But really, the premier thought is with his family and him, but we also have a job to do tonight and we tried to prepare the best we could and keep our guys in a normal routine."

Budenholzer is in his third season as Atlanta's coach. This season he took over as president of basketball operations after the departure of general manager Danny Ferry.

A year ago, Budenholzer guided the Hawks to a franchise-record 60 wins and a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. He was the NBA's coach of the year.

"I just want to keep us on a routine, our normal routine, from shootaround to what we do pregame, just keep our guys on a normal routine," Atkinson said. "But, you know, this group's been together for a while now. It's a pretty close-knit group, obviously close with Bud, so it'll be interesting to see how they react tonight with all the emotions and everything that's going on."

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN's Chris Forsberg was used in this report.