Hawks Win Nail-Biter vs. Pistons

The Atlanta Hawks came out with tremendous energy against the new-look Detroit Pistons and won a tough home game in nail-biting fashion 118-115. Blake Griffin banked in a three-pointer as time expired, so that margin was a bit closer than it appeared.

Dewayne Dedmon and Dennis Schröder came up huge in the 4^th quarter for the Hawks with some supremely clutch buckets – particularly from Dedmon, who hit a tough and-1 putback layup and a corner three on back-to-back possessions with less than a 1:35 left in the game to give Atlanta a lead they would never give up.

The Pistons seemed a little disjointed as a team in their first game since picking up cagy veteran Jameer Nelson and solid 3-and-D wing James Ennis III at the trade deadline, not to mention still learning how to play with the newly acquired Blake Griffin.

Upon receiving Griffin from the Clippers, Detroit had reeled off four straight wins, but have now lost two in a row.

A major deciding factor for this game was free throws. This was a foul-heavy affair at Philips Arena, and the refs were raining whistles at the faintest whiff of contact for either team. The Pistons shot 26 of 33 (78.8%) from the charity stripe, led by their All-Star center Andre Drummond, who connected on 9 of his 13 free throws.

The Hawks outdid their counterparts from Michigan, however, as the team shot an astronomical 37 free throws, and hit 32 of them (good for 86.5%). Dennis Schröder alone delivered on 9 of his 12 shots at the line (75%), and he was extremely clutch with his throws late – draining 6 straight as the game’s outcome hung in the balance.

This was a balanced game for both teams on offense, with 11 players scoring in double figures and 18 of 19 players who saw minutes scored at least 2 points (the Pistons’ Eric Moreland only played 3 minutes and did not score).