The Atlanta Hawks (12-10) got a few things in order with their 114-111 win over the Indiana Pacers (9-15) on Wednesday. Perhaps the most important being their record away from State Farm Arena is now at 4-8 following their third-straight win on the road. It wasn’t long ago they lost six straight road contests.
They also got over their tough loss to the New York Knicks four nights prior. Atlanta lost more than the game that night as Bogdan Bogdanovic and Cam Reddish suffered injuries that will keep the former out until around Christmas while the latter is day-to-day.
In their first game without either for the foreseeable future, the Hawks got just what they needed from fill-in starter Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in his first game in the role.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot embodied ‘3-and-D’ in first start for the Atlanta Hawks
Luwawu-Cabarrot came through with eight points on 50 percent shooting and went 2-of-5 from downtown while grabbing three rebounds, dishing out an assist, and notching a takeaway. It was a full stat line in what was by far his most minutes of the season after he was brought in during the summer to provide the very depth he did on Wednesday.
It was just two seasons ago that TLC had a career year with the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 7.8 points on 43.5 percent shooting and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc. He was less efficient last season, averaging 6.4 points, on 36.5 percent shooting overall and 31.4 percent from deep.
This season, he has averaged just 2.1 points in a little over five minutes, both of which are career-lows.
He has, however, shot 36.8 percent from three in his limited minutes.
That range was key as one of his threes was a big one that put the Hawks up 105-99 and stopped a 9-2 Indiana run in the middle of the fourth quarter.
TLC for 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/u4D2XE9T4T
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) December 2, 2021
Defensively, Luwawu-Cabarrot was fairly lockdown, at least on the perimeter. His assignments shot 50 percent on him overall, including six points and 3-of-6 overall shooting by Caris Levert. But they were 1-of-4 from behind the three-point line and that was by the Pacers 6-11 center, Myles Turner.
In many ways, the 6-foot-7 wing from France was a stabilizing factor in the game.
Not only were Bogdanovic, Reddish, and De’Andre Hunter out for this game, head coach Nate McMillan was as well while in isolation out of caution after his son and Hawks assistant coach Jamelle McMillan tested positive.
Hawks assistant coach Chris Jent got his seventh win, but also McMillan’s 700th.
It was just one game, and the Pacers came in having lost three of their last four. But it was a strong first showing in what could have been a very tricky situation.