Ian Mahinmi says he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery from a calf injury and would like to return before the first round ends, though he has yet to practice with the team per Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.

Mahinmi was given a 7-10 day timetable for the injury right at the end of the regular season but blew past that without any sort of status update, so take this with a grain of salt. Still, he was a productive part of the Wizards’ second unit when he finally got onto the court this year and would likely provide more frontcourt help than Jason Smith against Dwight Howard and the Hawks. His return would be a nice boost for Washington, who find themselves deadlocked with Atlanta after four games.