Pistons at Hawks
THE STORY: Coming off their most dominant win of the season, the Detroit Pistons can't help but feel good despite being out of playoff contention. The Pistons will try to string together wins on consecutive nights when they travel to face the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. The Hawks, in a fight for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, open a five-game homestand to close the regular season.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Detroit, SportSouth
ABOUT THE PISTONS (23-38): Led by Brandon Knight's 28 points, the Pistons routed Cleveland 116-77 on Tuesday, going ahead by as many as 50 points at one point. "Even though the season is winding down, we wanted to set the tone for next year and the offseason and continue to build on that," Knight said. Things don't figure to get progressively easier, however, for the Pistons, who are winless in their last seven trips to Philips Arena.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (36-25): Atlanta enters Wednesday's play in a tie with Orlando for the No. 5 spot in the East, just a half-game behind Boston for the fourth seed. The favorable schedule the rest of the way figures to work in the Hawks' favor. "We're right there in the thick of things," coach Larry Drew said. "As long as there's an opportunity for us to move up, we want to try to take advantage of that."
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Atlanta has held Detroit to just 88.9 points per game during their past seven home wins in the series.
2. Hawks rookie forward Ivan Johnson mas made the most of his playing time. He has averaged 17.5 points his last two outings, including a season-high 21 in Monday's win over Toronto.
3. Pistons center Greg Monroe is fresh off his 28th double-double of the season, tied for eighth-most in the NBA.