Hawks at Pistons
Coming off a wildly inconsistent two-game road trip, the Detroit Pistons will try to find some middle ground when they begin a two-game homestand Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks. After opening the trip with a wild 129-123 overtime victory at Minnesota, the Pistons fell 98-86 at Charlotte on Friday, following up their second-highest scoring output of the season with their second-lowest.
"Our give-a-crap level was very low for a very important game," coach Dwane Casey told reporters after the loss. "When you're a winner, you come out and take this game and be ready to fight." Detroit, which fell to 5-8 on the road with Friday's setback, plays eight of 10 away from home once this homestand concludes with a matchup against Washington on Wednesday. The Hawks come into town aiming for their first three-game winning streak of the season. Kent Bazemore led seven players in double figures and Atlanta dominated on the boards to defeat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden by a 114-107 margin Friday night.
TV: 4 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Atlanta), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE HAWKS (8-23): A rebuilding squad showed some mettle with a second-half rally in Friday's win, allowing 39 first-quarter points and just 38 after halftime. "Coach was definitely getting into us (at halftime)," rookie guard Trae Young told the media. "That's not who we are. That's not how we want to be represented. We want to be a team that comes out and competes on both ends. We didn't make it tough for them in the first half." Young recorded his 10th double-double with 15 points and 10 assists while John Collins notched his ninth with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
ABOUT THE PISTONS (15-15): The topsy-turvy road trip was largely due to very different results at the 3-point line, as Detroit hit a season high-tying 20 3-pointers at Minnesota before going 8-of-34 at Charlotte and it held the Timberwolves to 9-of-33 before getting torched by the Hornets (12-of-24). "They were really mixing up the coverages," guard Langston Galloway told reporters in Charlotte. "We were trying to make adjustments on the fly, but we just couldn't get it going. ... It was very disappointing. We had a lot of great looks and just wasn't knocking down shots tonight." Blake Griffin led the way in the loss with 23 points while Andre Drummond finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds while battling a virus that has hit multiple members of the team.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Collins is averaging 22.1 points and 13.1 rebounds in December.
2. Pistons SG Luke Kennard scored six points on 2-of-17 shooting in 61 minutes over his last three games.
3. Detroit won the first meeting between the teams 124-109 at Atlanta on Nov. 9.