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RECAP: Atlanta Hawks Start Slow And Can't Catch Up In 122-121 Loss to Pistons

Atlanta lost by one to the Pistons and it now drops them to 4-6 this season

Jackson Caudell

Nov 8, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) passes the ball as Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) defends during the in the first half at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images
Nov 8, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) passes the ball as Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) defends during the in the first half at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images / David Reginek-Imagn Images
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After a great win on Wednesday night vs the Knicks, the Hawks went on the road to Detroit to face a Pistons team that is much improved from previous seasons. The game ended up being decided at the end, but the Hawks hurt themselves by digging a massive hole early in the game.

The final score will read 122-121 and you would assume it was a close back and forth all night between the two teams, but for a large part of the game, Atlanta was playing catching. Detroit shot the lights out of the ball in the first quarter and built up a 17-point lead against Atlanta. It got to be as big as 24 points and Atlanta ended up chasing the Pistons all game. After finally catching up to them at the end, they could not finish.

Trae Young had one of his best games of the season and made clutch plays in the second half to help the Hawks come back. He finished with 35 points on 11-25 shooting and also had 13 assists.

Dyson Daniels had one of the most impressive games that you will see on the defensive end of the floor. Daniels had seven steals in the game to go along with 18 points. His seven steals were a new career high, the most steals in a game this season, and the most steals in a Hawks game since 2010.

Jalen Johnson had a slow start, but finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. 12 of his 20 points came in the second half.

Neither Clint Capela or Onyeka Okongwu had a particularly strong game. Capela did have 12 rebounds, but was 3-10 from the field and missed a lot of shots at the rim. Okongwu had eight points and five rebounds. The best center in this game was Larry Nance, who scored 13 points (10 in the fourth) and was able to provide some needed offense.

The bench for the Hawks was not spectacular. David Roddy and Keaton Wallace were invisible for much of the game (Wallace only played seven minutes). Overall, the Hawks shot 45% from the field and 42% from three.

After having a career game on Wednesday, Zaccharie Risacher struggled to do much in this game. He finished with seven points on 2-7 shooting and also had five rebounds and three assists.

Cade Cuningham led the way for Detroit, but it was a collective effort for the Pistons. Cunningham had his third straight triple double (22 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists) and had the go-ahead shot and then the block to win it. Cunningham showed up when it mattered for Detroit. Tobias Harris finished with 22 points Jaden Ivey had 18, and Malik Beasley came off the bench to score 22. The Pistons bench was much better than Atlanta's tonight.

The Pistons gave the Hawks plenty of chances in this game. They were 21-31 at the free throw line and committed 20 turnovers, but the Hawks could not take advantage of their mistakes.

After a loss like this, Atlanta will have to get it together quickly. They will play a back-to-back and face the Chicago Bulls at home tomorrow.

:Let's recap tonight's game.

Atlanta went with their usual starting lineup of Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.

The Pistons were without Jalen Duren tonight and started Isaiah Stewart in his place. Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Tobias Harris were the the other starters.

The first half of the game vs the Pistons was mostly awful stuff from the Hawks and a lot of it boiled down to poor defense and the inability to shoot three-pointers, something that has plagued the Hawks this season. Detroit jumped out to an 18-7 lead in the opening minutes, hitting seven of their first eight field goal attempts. Harris was leading the way with nine points for the Pistons.

Garrison Matthews and David Roddy were the first subs for the Hawks.

After a decent stretch of play that saw them trailing only 25-16, Detroit ended the first quarter on a 15-7 run to lead 40-23 going into the second. This was one of the worst quarters of the season for the Hawks and they dug themselves an early hole because of it. Detroit shot 63% from the field in the opening quarter and 50% from three.

After a horrible first quarter, the Hawks were able to find something midway through the second.

One interesting thing at the beginning of the second was the insertion of Larry Nance. Nance has exclusively been a center for much of the year and has not played much when both Clint Capela and Onykea Okongwu are healthy. He got some minutes in the second quarter and came in with Keaton Wallace. Atlanta kept their usual rotation for this game.

The Pistons started the quarter on a 9-2 run to get the lead to 49-25 and it looked inevitable that a blowout was on the way. Over the rest of the quarter though, the Hawks defense played its best stretch of the first half and they found some things that clicked on offense.

Over the next four and a half minutes, Atlanta cut the lead to 57-44 and it was a 19-8 run overall. Still, the Hawks could not get it to under ten at the half and trailed 66-53.

Atlanta shot 40% from the field and 29% from three in the first half. Young led the way with 18 points, but it was hard to say that anyone in particular had a really good half.

After a hot start, the Pistons ended up shooting 48% from the field and 38% from three in the first half. Harris led the way with 16 points, but Malik Beasley came off the bench to score 13. That was one big advantage for the Pistons in the first half. The bench for Detroit had 29 points, while the Hawks only had 11. Add in that the Hawks missed 15 shots at the rim and Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Zaccharie Risacher were struggling and you get a team trailing by 13 to the Pistons at the half.

The Hawks kept chopping away though and cut the lead to 10 points with 6:48 left in the third quarter. After a disastrous first quarter on defense, that end of the floor was picking up for Atlanta and it was none other than Daniels leading the way. He recorded his fifth steal of the game in the third quarter and was doing a great job at guarding Cade Cunningham.

The Hawks played their best quarter of the game in the fourth, but still came up short. Detroit led by seven with under five to go, but a 7-0 run for the Hawks finally tied the game. It did not stay tied long though, as Harris hit a three for the Pistons to get the lead back. The Hawks responded with an easy bucket for Okongwu to make it 117-116, but the Pistons got yet another clutch bucket, this time from Jaden Ivey. Ivey hit his shot, got fouled, and then nailed the free throw. It was 120-116 with under a minute left.

Daniels was the hero of the game for the Hawks on defense, but had a huge three with 33.3 seconds left to cut the lead to one 120-119. On the other end, Cunningham missed a shot, which led to Young getting fouled on the other end with 12.5 left. It looked like the Hawks had a win in their grasp, but Cunningham took over.

Cunningham hit a left-handed shot with 8.5 seconds left and the Hawks took a timeout. Young took the ball and found an open Okongwu under the basket, but his shot attempt was blocked by Cunning ham and the game was over. The Pistons made the winning plays at the end and got a win vs Atlanta.

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Jackson Caudell
JACKSON CAUDELL

Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell

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