Atlanta Hawks pregame against preseason opponent Detroit Pistons

AUBURN HILLS, MI - JANUARY 18: Andre Drummond
AUBURN HILLS, MI - JANUARY 18: Andre Drummond /
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The Atlanta Hawks travel to the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit tonight at 7:00pm EST to face the new digs of the Detroit Pistons in the Hawks’ third preseason game.

Following a victory in The Land, the Hawks will look to continue the momentum into tonight’s game against the Pistons. Several players like Taurean Prince, Dewayne Dedmon, and Luke Babbitt were exceptional against the Cavaliers and will hope that they can build on that in their matchups tonight.

As far as injuries go, the Hawks will be without rookie John Collins and newly acquired Miles Plumlee, and DeAndre’ Bembry is listed as probable, but it is unlikely that he will get many minutes if he does play.

Related Story: What the first preseason game told us about the Hawks offense

Hawk fans should expect the usual starting five of Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince, Ersan Ilyasova, and Dewayne Dedmon. Against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, the Pistons lined up with Ish Smith, Avery Bradley, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris, and Andre Drummond. Reggie Jackson was out through injury.

Stan Van Gundy’s team will look to press the floor and feed the ball into centerpiece Andre Drummond while trying to contain the Coach Bud’s pace and space play on the offensive end.

The one-on-one matchups will also draw much intrigue. We’ll see two blurs at point guard for both sides, as Schroder and Smith earn their paychecks playing the fast game. We should expect plenty of drives and hopefully Schroder can contain Smith on defense and explode on offense.

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Bazemore will have another tough time in the office, facing up against one of the league’s premier defenders in Avery Bradley. We may even see Prince switch onto Bradley just so that there is a larger body on him, much like during the game against the Cavaliers where Prince picked up Dwyane Wade on defense.

Otherwise Prince will likely be guarded by Johnson, who will look to impress and prove his worth after poor first two seasons after being drafted 8th overall in 2015. Ilyasova will go head-to-head with Harris in what promises to be a wholesome battle between the veteran and the young talent.

The most intrigue will surround the centers again, Dedmon vs. Drummond. On the offensive end it is foreseeable that Dedmon will be able to get into this rhythm with the rolls to the basket and the cuts to lead to easy points, but he will struggle on defense.

Drummond is a nightmare on the glass, and Dedmon has not yet established his defensive acumen to such a degree that he can compete with someone of the skillset that Drummond has. Although Drummond isn’t a threat from deep as Kevin Love was, he is an absolute bully down low, and Dedmon will have to work on every possession to protect the rim.

Apart from the starting 5s, eyes will be on Pistons’ rookie Luke Kennard. He struggled to get in his groove during his first NBA action, and the Hawks should be wary of the threat he poses from deep. As far as Hawk fans are concerned, they will look forward to looking for Mr. Stretch 4 himself, Luke Babbitt.

Babbitt absolutely found his form against the Cavaliers and will be eager to make a quick impact again as he seeks to battle Ilyasova for that starting spot in the Hawks frontcourt. Budenholzer should keep an eye on the veteran, as he could turn out to be more valuable than many team thought him to be, which is why he was available so late in free agency.

Next: Takeaways from the Hawks win against the Cleveland Cavaliers

We can’t promise an excellent contest, but the game will be like any other in which Coach Bud and his staff will get the opportunity to assess their team and make the adjustments necessary to put them in the best possible position heading into the regular season.