Atlanta Hawks: Rapid Reactions to a Brutal loss to Detroit

Rapid reactions to an ugly blowout Atlanta Hawks loss to the Detroit Pistons.

The Atlanta Hawks were never in tonight’s contest, losing 124-109 to the Pistons. Detroit came out blazing hot, firing on all cylinders, and didn’t cool off until it was too late.

The Pistons made 6 first quarter threes to jump out a 20-point lead before fans could take in the Atlanta Hawks new city edition jersey and court design.

The Detroit big man combo of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin were way to much for Atlanta all night, and outside a few highlights from the suddenly athletic Miles Plumlee, the frontcourt battle was won by the Pistons — no question. Alex Len struggled hugely tonight.

After the ugly first quarter, the lead hung around 25 in favor of the Motor City the rest of the night. A valiant fourth quarter run, led by Jeremy Lin ended the game at a respectable 15-point margin. Speaking of Lin, he continues to get his game back, finishing with 19 tonight, which was a team high.

As he has for a couple of losses now, Trae Young was a bright spot for the Hawks. His 16 points came without a made 3, thanks to his ability to draw fouls on the night. he made all 8 of his free throws.

Blake Griffin was dominant on defense, and while he only scored 6 points, his 9 assists tell the real story, he seemed to find an open Piston on every possession.

The Pistons killed the Hawks inside and out tonight. Down low Drummond outplayed everyone in the arena with 23 points, 4 blocks and 11 boards. Detroit shot 47 threes, making 41% of them, including 5 makes from Langston Galloway, and 4 from Stanley Johnson. Seven Pistons cracked double-digits in points.

Not only was it one of those cold nights for the Atlanta Hawks, it was a very hot night for the Pistons’ usually mediocre offense. Not a great combo, certainly not one that’s going to lead to many wins for the Hawks.

Box Score Notes:

• Kevin Huerter continues to get an abundance of minutes off the bench, 29 of them tonight. He had a rough game however and scored just 2 points.
• Miles Plumlee, who wasn’t in the rotation for a few games after Dewayne Dedmon returned from injury, forced Lloyd Pierce’s hand tonight and maybe going forward. He had a +9 box plus/minus and scored 14 points on 7 of 8 attempts.
• The bench players continue to get into foul trouble, and the starting five accounted for just four of the Hawks’ 21 fouls on the night.

The Atlanta Hawks fall to 3-9 on the young season, and the Pistons get back over .500 to a 6-5 record.

The team says farewell to State Farm Arena and embark on a West Coast road trip, starting Sunday in LA.