Hawks at Pistons
THE STORY: The Atlanta Hawks continue their five-game road trip when they roll into Detroit to take on the struggling Pistons on Friday. The Hawks are coming off a 105-83 beating at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, their most lopsided defeat of the season. “All the things that we talked about that we needed to do from a defensive standpoint, we didn't get it done,” head coach Larry Drew said. Atlanta’s next three opponents only have 13 wins combined this season. The team will travel to New Orleans and Toronto to wrap up their road swing after Friday’s game in Detroit. The Pistons have lost 12 of their last 14 games, but head coach Lawrence Frank was happy with his team’s effort on Wednesday night against the Miami Heat. “You have to look at the fight for the whole game. If we can establish this as part of our DNA, we'll put ourselves in position to win a lot of games, but it can't be just (against) Miami,” he said. Detroit went on an 18-5 run in the fourth quarter to pull ahead, but wound up losing 101-98.
TV: 7:30 p.m., ET. SportSouth (Atlanta), FSN (Detroit)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (13-6): The Hawks are 6-2 since losing center Al Horford to injury on Jan. 11. Joe Johnson has picked up the slack by averaging 21 points per game in Horford’s absence. Jeff Teague has also been a major contributor for Atlanta and is arguably one of the most improved players in the league. He’s averaging 13 points and 5.4 assists per game while ranking second in the league with 41 steals. The point guard averaged just five points and two assists per game last season.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (4-15): The Detroit Pistons are scoring a league-low 85.6 points per game. This has been a year to forget thus far, but a bright spot for the Pistons may be the emergence of Austin Daye. The 6-11 forward scored a career-high 28 points on Wednesday after netting only 45 in his first 13 games. Detroit is also getting a huge contribution from center Greg Monroe. He is one of only five players in the NBA averaging at least 14.5 points and 3.5 offensive rebounds per game.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Hawks are 9-1 when Joe Johnson scores 20 or more points.
2. Josh Smith averaged 23 points and 9.5 rebounds in four games versus the Pistons last season.
3. The Pistons are the only team in the league yet to score 100 points in a game this season.