The Atlanta Hawks were in Detroit on Friday evening to face the Pistons. It was a much-needed break for the Hawks, as they haven’t played since last Saturday against the Washington Wizards. They had a lot of time this week to practice, something they haven’t had much time to do so far this season because of the schedule.
Unfortunately, even though the Hawks had a long break, Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out a day before the game with an illness.
The Hawks came out pretty efficient, and it started at
the three-point line. Nickeil Alexander-Walker knocked down three of them early, while Zaccharie Risacher added one.
Later in the quarter, Mouhamed Gueye joined in on the fun and knocked down a triple in the corner.
There was a lot of nice shotmaking in the first by both teams, and Jalen Johnson was able to get this turnaround jumper to go.
It was a tight game in the first, with neither team breaking away by as much as a five-point lead. The shots were falling for both, and going into the second quarter, the Hawks trailed 34-33.
The Pistons started the second quarter with more energy, and they were able to knock down a few shots to extend their lead. On the other hand, the Hawks had a few miscommunications early and some shots that didn’t go in, which led to them staying stagnant to start the quarter.
Johnson kept the Hawks afloat in the quarter, knocking down this three-pointer.
After that shot, the Hawks went into an offensive slump, and the Pistons used that to their advantage, extending their lead to double-digits. Alexander-Walker did his best to get the Hawks back in it down the stretch of the first half, and he was hitting shots from anywhere.
He used the glass to his advantage on this one.
In the final minute heading into halftime, the Hawks were able to cut their deficit to single digits after Johnson was able to find Dyson Daniels for a dunk down the lane. Going into the second half, the Hawks trailed the Pistons 69-60.
The Hawks didn’t start the third quarter the way they wanted, as the Pistons went on a 10-2 run to extend their lead to double digits again. Turnovers and missed shots continued to hurt the Hawks, which made it hard for them to get any momentum.
Things didn’t get much better for the Hawks as the quarter continued, and they found themselves down as much as 23 points. Daniels tried to lighten the blow for the Hawks, getting to the rim for an easy dunk.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Hawks trailed 104-79.
Much of the same happened in the fourth for the Hawks, and they just could not dig themselves out of the hole. In fact, the hole got much deeper, and the Pistons extended their lead to as much as 30 points.
On a brighter note, Johnson was able to record his third triple-double in a row.
Quin Snyder cleared the bench with about four minutes left in the quarter, but it really wasn’t much of a clearing with the Hawks only having ten players available.
Johnson finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, Alexander-Walker finished with 22 points, and Daniels finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.
The Hawks will be back in action on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
