Atlanta Hawks play around with league-worst Pistons but take the dub

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 118-113. The Hawks continue to play down to their competition and let Detroit hang around in this one till the final seconds. Trae Young was cooking, scoring 35 points on 42 percent shooting.

On the other side, Cade Cunningham and Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with 26 points on 44 percent shooting and 33 points on 57 percent shooting respectively.

While it seemed like the Hawks might run away with this one midway through the first, the Pistons fought back. The game went back and forth till late in the final quarter when the Hawks pulled away behind John Collins Clint, Capela, and Dejounte Murray’s play. While Bogdanovic made it a one-possession game with 17 seconds to go, Young made two free throws to pull out the victory.

How did  Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young play? 

As already stated, Young played very well in this matchup. He scored 35 points, almost half of it coming on free throws. He ended up shooting 17 free throws in this matchup, as Trae was able to Trae and draw fouls. He did struggle from three, shooting 14 percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

Besides the game against the Magic, Young has not shot well from three in his first four games to start the year. In the first four games of the season, he has shot 14 percent in this game, 25 percent against the Hornets, 36 percent against the Magic, and 11 percent against the Rockets.

In all of these games, Young has shot a high volume of threes with him shooting at least 7 a game. Obviously, Young should shoot a high volume number of threes and has for his career (average 7 three-point attempts per game) but it’s clear this is not a case of a small sample size.

Considering Young was a 32 percent shooter from three last year and 35 percent over his career, this isn’t the norm. This is something to watch for the Hawks from now on and might be one of the reasons they lose to a much better team down the road.

Cade Cunningham and Bojan Bogdanovic went off against the Atlanta Hawks

Cade Cunningham ended up with 26 points on 44 percent shooting. He was in control of the offense at times and looked really good. Additionally, he ended up with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Bogdanovic also went off from three, shooting 50 percent from three. He made six threes on his way to a season-high 33 points.

Both of these guys carried the Pistons and were a huge reason, this was competitive down the stretch. No one else on the team scored more than 18 points. Only two other players were in double figures for the Pistons.

While the season is still very young, this was the best Cade had looked all year. Bogdanovic has looked like a really good shooter in the first three games of the season, and this game was no exception.

John Collins, Hunter, and Murray provide buckets for the Atlanta Hawks

John Collins had a very nice game, having 19 points while shooting 64 percent from the floor. De’Andre Hunter provided shooting, scoring 17 on 70 percent shooting. These guys were lights-out tonight and helped the Hawks with the victory.

Dejounte Murray provided 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and two blocks. While he put up a lot of numbers in different ways, he didn’t have the greatest game shooting the ball. He only went 27 percent from the floor.

It gets worse when you remove the three-point shots, as he went an awful 15 percent from inside the arc. This game was probably just a bad shooting night, as he has gone 46 percent against the Hornets, 50 percent against the Magic, and 42 percent against the Rockets.

What can Atlanta Hawks fans take away from this win?

The first concern about this Hawks team is Young’s shooting. Young has gone 25 percent from three this season on 9 attempts per game, that isn’t good. It is still very early and small sample size etc, but it should be something Hawks fans should be looking at going forward.

Additionally, I think the Hawks have been playing down to their competition. Keep in mind, the Hawks have had a very easy schedule to start the year and these games have been way too close.

It seems like, through four games, the Hawks’ defense isn’t really amazing. I should probably hold off till the Bucks and Raptors games before making a statement like this but nothing has changed to make me not say this.

Additionally, they have not been a great three-point shooting team. They shot 30 percent from three as a team, which is fine but this team definitely could be better. Hunter and Young are the worst offenders of this. Hunter has shot 27 percent from three, on around 4 attempts per game. While that is completely horrible, it isn’t amazing.

I still like how the Hawks have played through the first four games. Besides the Hornets game (awful three-point shooting, 22 percent for the Hawks), the Hawks have done well enough that they can get the victory. They will not get as many breaks as they have against stiffer competition, but for me, its’ working.

The Hawks face off against the Pistons on Friday and then head off to play the Bucks on a back-to-back on Saturday.