The Hawks looked to avoid giving the Pistons their first win since Oct. 30. They handed the Pistons a 130-124 loss on Monday night at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations.
1. The Hawks fell into the danger zone a few too many times against the league’s worst team. The visitors were able to keep things within two possessions in the fourth quarter. They gave up 38 points to the Pistons, who pulled the game within 128-122 with 33.8 left after forward Bojan Bogdanovic dribbled inside and hit a scooping layup at the rim.
Then the Hawks needed to burn two-straight timeouts to get their plan in place with 31 seconds to go. But Trae Young drew a foul off Pistons rookie and former OTE alum Ausar Thompson. Despite Young and later Dejounte Murray splitting some free throws, the Hawks hung on.
Murray, who scored 20 points, picked off Bogdanovic on the wing and the Hawks dribbled out the clock to hand the Pistons their 24th straight loss.
2. Within the flow of Monday’s game, Young continued to make the right decisions as he continued to find teammates. Young ended the night with 31 points and 15 assists to continue his most recent streak of 30-plus points and 10-plus assists in a career-long four straight games.
Young has looked to play aggressively, looking to find opportunities to score because that opens up the floor for the rest of his teammates.
He carved up the Pistons defense, finding center Clint Capela with a bounce pass through a pair of defenders for a dunk a the rim. He also found forward De’Andre Hunter from the corner behind a pair Pistons defenders.
Following the night, he closed the gap between him and Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton on the assists per game leaderboard. Coming into the night Young averaged 10.8 assists per game but now averages 11, just .9 assists fewer than Haliburton.
“I just talked with Trae, ‘he got better’ finding passes and taking his time, especially when he do that two steps,” Capela said.
3. The Hawks missed the presence of Bogdan Bogdanovic over the last couple of games. With the Hawks wing sitting in Monday’s game, they lacked their usual scoring punch off of the bench. The ended up tying the Pistons in scoring with 22 points.
Center Onyeka Okongwu led the bench in scoring with 14 points.
Bogdanovic has scored at least 20 points in a career-high five straight games, averaging 24 points on 50% shooting from the floor and 47.1% shooting from 3. This season, he has averaged roughly 3.4 triples per game, the fourth-most by any player in the NBA.
Amongst all bench players this season, he ranks sixth in points per game (17.4), third in field goals made with seven, as well. On top of that, he’s tied for first among bench players in 3-pointers made (3.5) and tied for third in steals per game (1.5).
4. The Hawks saw the return of Capela to the rotation after he missed Saturday’s game against the Cavs. Capela underwent an MRI on Sunday where he was diagnosed with a bone bruise on his left knee. But following Monday’s game where he picked up his 12th double-double of the season, Capela said he felt good.
In 28 minutes, Capela scored 17 points and had 15 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots. Capela has had 10 or more rebounds in six of his last seven games and has had three blocks in each of his last three matchups.
“I feel that I’m definitely getting more comfortable,” Capela said. “I wouldn’t say it’s getting easier. But I definitely feel that i have a rhythm that it’s easier to get rebounds and and get double double. So it’s a sign for me that my body’s feeling better.”
5.The Hawks gave up a career-night to Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who scored the first 40-piece of his career. He scored 43 points, had five rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one blocked shot in 44 minutes.
He tried to power his team to their first win in over month, getting to his spots and knocking down shot after shot and played through contact to get to the free-throw line eight times.
Stat to know
The Hawks made 16 three-pointers - the 21st straight game with at least 10 3-pointers. It’s a franchise record for consecutive games with 10-plus 3s.
Quotable
“You could be in Disney World and all of a sudden you get a call and be on a plane. Fortunately, there’s a lot of flights to Atlanta. ” Quin Snyder on the process of bringing up their two-way players from the G League Showcase in Orlando.
Up next
The Hawks head to Houston to face the Rockets on Wednesday.
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