The Atlanta Hawks may have exorcised a few demons with their 121-118 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. For starters, a couple of days off in between it and their next contest, a road date with the Portland Trail Blazers, has allowed several players to clear health and safety protocols.
Portland is the third stop on a six-game road trip that will take the Hawks up and down California to play the Sacramento Kings as well as both Los Angeles teams.
Unfortunately, head coach Nate McMillan has officially entered protocols for the first time. He had self-previously isolated out of precaution after his son, and Hawks assistant, Jemelle tested positive back at the start of December.
A bigger loss, at least on the floor, is that of Cam Reddish, who injured his ankle.
Cam Reddish keeps getting hot and then getting hurt, stalling his breakout
Reddish was having a quiet game against the Cavs before going down. He had just two points and was 0-for-3 from the floor in a little over 10 minutes. He did, however, manage to notch three steals in that short period on the floor. It was his ninth multi-steal game of the season and third in the last four games.
It also came on the heels of a stretch of five games where he averaged 21.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists with 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks to boot.
The last time he went out this season was a stretch of four games to start December due to wrist soreness and later a non-COVID illness. The Hawks went 2-2 in those games with both of the losses coming near the start of their current eight-game losing streak at home.
He was playing well at that time, too.
In five games before he went down against the New York Knicks in November, Reddish averaged 14.2 points, 3.0 boards, and 1.0 assists on 49.1 percent shooting and 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. We discussed how unfortunate the timing of that injury was at the time as he was starting to round into form.
This time, he was shooting 43.2 percent overall and from distance in his five previous outings before getting injured.
The Hawks will miss his presence on defense just as much as his offense, if not more. Especially with many of their offensive threats on the way back from health and safety protocols but with De’Andre Hunter still a little bit away from returning.
This has been a prevailing theme of Reddish’s career – something has interrupted every season of his career. Hopefully, it’s a pattern that will soon come to an end.