Hawks Escape Detroit with a win over the Pistons
Atlanta (5-4) started their In-Season Tournament play tonight against the Detroit Pistons (2-9).
The Hawks were without Trae Young for this matchup and Bogdan Bogdanovic got the start in place of Young. Dejounte Murray, De'Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela. Young was out for personal reasons as his family welcomed the birth of their second child yesterday.
Jalen Duren, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Harris, Monte Morris, and Isaiah Livers were out for Detroit. Duren was unquestionably the biggest loss for the Pistons in this game as he is off to a great start to the year and is their leading rebounder, averaging 10.6 rebounds per game. The Pistons started Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart, and Marvin Bagley.
Atlanta had lost two of their last three since a four-game winning streak and Detroit had lost eight in a row since their 2-1 start.
The 1st quarter has been a notoriously bad quarter for the Hawks this season and was the primary reason they lost to the Miami Heat on Saturday.
The Hawks bucked that trend for a little bit and got off to a good start in this game, at least in the first five minutes. Atlanta led 16-8 after the first five minutes and by the time the first timeout in the game was called with 6:36 remaining in the first quarter, the Hawks led 18-11 and were 9-11 from the field.
Without Young in the lineup tonight, it was going to be interesting to see the rotation from Quin Snyder and the first three guys in for the Hawks were Saddiq Bey (a former Piston), Onyeka Okongwu, and AJ Griffin. Griffin has fallen out of the rotation in some games, but Snyder went to him early tonight.
Atlanta kept rolling in the first quarter and had a 31-21 lead with 2:32 remaining and that is when Trent Forrest came in the game to pick up some of the backup point guard minutes. Detroit closed the gap to 31-27, but Atlanta closed on a 7-2 run to end a good first quarter against Detroit and lead 38-29.
Coming into the game, Murray was unquestionably going to have to carry the offense and the Hawks would have to find some way to survive without him. Atlanta struggled to do that and it allowed the Pistons to win the second quarter and only trail 64-60 at the half.
Murray led the way for the Hawks with 17 points and six assists at the half and Bogdanovic had 15 points. Atlanta shot 58.1% from the field and 53.3% from three. Murray and Bogi did their job in the first half, but Atlanta needed more from their forwards in this game.
Dejounte Murray led the Hawks offense tonight
Detroit shot 51% from the field, but only 26.7% from three. Bagley had a good first half with 12 points and Stewart had 10. Jaden Ivey had nine points off the bench and I thought Kevin Know (former Hawk) gave them good minutes in the first half.
The third quarter was a close affair between these two. Atlanta won the third quarter 33-31 and Bey was a big reason why. After a lackluster first half, he was able to bring a lot of needed energy to the frontcourt.
The guy who brought that energy tonight for the Pistons was rookie Ausar Thompson. Thompson was super impressive on the glass tonight and had some highlight dunks to go along with them.
With 9:25 to go in the game, Atlanta led by seven 101-94 and it looked like the Hawks were going to pull away in this game. But Detroit kept battling and after a lackluster three quarters, Cade Cuningham came alive and led the charge to bring the game closer.
With 2:29 left, Atlanta only led by one and turned the ball over to give the ball back to the Pistons. An illegal screen followed that gave Atlanta the ball back. After a miss by Murray, Detroit got out in transition, and Knox dunked it to give Detroit the lead.
Atlanta answered though. Hunter got a bucket to retake the lead 118-117 and after a Cuningham miss, Murray found Capela for his 9th assist and the Hawks led 120-117 and Murray had a 32-point, nine-assist game.
Another bad possession by the Pistons sealed the deal for the Hawks and Atlanta got a 126-120 win.
Detroit was missing Jalen Duren tonight
The Hawks shot 51.7% from the field in this game and 36.4% from three in this game. Murray finished with 32 points and nine assists, Bogi had 17 points and both Hunter and Johnson had 16. Bey made a huge difference in this game off the bench with his 19 points.
Detroit shot similarly in this game, finishing 52.2% from the field and 34.5% from three. Bagley had 22 points and Thompson finished with 21 points. Alec Burks had 16 off the bench.
Up next for the Hawks will be another game against the New York Knicks. The Knicks beat the Hawks earlier this season.
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