The Atlanta Hawks fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 last night and now face a 2-1 series deficit. While plenty of factors led to the Bucks victory, including Trae Young being injured by a referee, it’s fair to look at Atlanta’s wing rotation and feel something is missing. While Solomon Hill gives great effort and is by all accounts a great personality for the team, his play on the court leaves much to be desired. This graphic sums it up fairly nicely:
Oversimplified Game 3 recap: pic.twitter.com/tkUeSV9mNA
— Bret LaGree (@hoopinion) June 28, 2021
As stated before, it’s not entirely Hill’s fault that the Hawks lost Game 3, of course, but Atlanta needs more production from those minutes than he can provide at this stage of his career. Enter Cam Reddish. While the team has been overly cautious with Reddish to this point, as they should, it’s past time to allow Reddish a regular spot in the rotation. I’m not saying he should start; although his defense would be welcomed on Middleton, Cam should at least be allowed to contribute during meaningful minutes. To put it simply, it would be hard to imagine Reddish being any worse than Atlanta’s other wings off the bench. If the issue is conditioning and health, I get it; however, they did play Reddish in the waning minutes of Game 2, and he looked to be moving well.
While the offense is certainly a question mark at this stage, his defense is still likely the best of the team’s available wings. In last night’s game, I’m not sure anyone in the NBA could’ve stopped Middleton, but it would be worth it to at least find out if Reddish can bother the sharpshooter. His combination of size and lateral quickness is rare, and the Hawks cannot afford to waste any more minutes in this series. Staring down a potential 3-1 deficit and heading back to Milwaukee, it’s safe to say the Hawks should pull out all the stops in Game 4. Cam Reddish can be that lightning-rod, change-of-pace player the Hawks are missing, especially if he’s hitting his shots as he did in Game 2.
https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1408817675808161797?s=20
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