The Hawks were firing on all cylinders early.
And then the stalled.
The Hawks led by as many as 16 points in the first half with an impressive show of ball-movement offense. However, the Pistons used a late fourth-quarter run – scoring nine straight points – for a 99-94 exhibition victory Thursday night at Philips Arena.
Despite the blown double-digit lead, the Hawks made a late run. Will Bynum scored six straight Hawks’ points in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 88-88 with 3:28 remaining. He then assisted on an Edy Tavares dunk that gave the Hawks a 90-89 lead with 1:46 left. That was it for the Hawks until a basket in the final 25 seconds with the game already out of hand.
“I thought the first quarter and a half, it looks like things were pretty sharp, pretty crisp, good execution on both ends of the court,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Offensively, we hit a little bit of a wall and didn’t have a very good second quarter and were pretty poor defensively in the third.”
The Pistons got baskets from Ish Smith, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a three-point play from Tobias Harris and two free throws from Caldwell-Pope in the decisive run to go up 98-90.
The Hawks had pulled their starters before the Pistons’ run with three starters still on the floor.
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 17 points, including two 3-pointers, and nine assists in 29 minutes. Dwight Howard fouled out in the fourth quarter and finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 28 minutes.
“The first half was great,” Schroder said. “We passed the ball, we moved the ball and played as a team. The second half we let up.”
The Hawks (2-2) also got double-digit scoring from Malcolm Delaney (13), Kent Bazemore (12) and Kyle Korver (10).
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Delaney said. “I know I’m going to get my shots that I want. I didn’t feel a good rhythm on Monday (in a loss to the Cavaliers) and today I just came out aggressive.”
The Pistons (1-2) were led by Harris and Smith with 18 points each. Harris had seven rebounds and Smith had eight assists and seven rebounds. Aron Baynes added 16 points and seven rebounds.
Howard and Tavares each fouled out. The Hawks played the final 41 seconds without a center on the floor. Budenholzer was not happy with the Pistons’ 28 trips to the free-throw line and lamented the fouls surrendered by his team.
The Hawks led by as many as 16 points in the first half. The Pistons rallied to erase the deficit early in the third quarter. They would use a 14-0 run late in the quarter to turn a five-point deficit into a nine-point lead, 74-65. Harris had 13 points in the third quarter as part of the Pistons’ run.
The Pistons kept the lead the rest of the game except for the 17 seconds after Tavares’ dunk.
The Hawks started Schroder, Korver, Bazemore, Howard and Kris Humphries.
The Hawks next play at the Magic on Sunday.
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