The Hawks used a 10-2 run late in the fourth quarter to escape with a 96-89 victory over the Pistons on Friday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Hawks (8-5, 4-4 road) lost an eight-point lead in the final quarter. The victory was the Hawks’ second over the Pistons (4-8) in three days.
The Hawks had the eight-point fourth quarter lead, but the Pistons took an 87-86 lead with 3:30 remaining. The Hawks got a steal from Paul Millsap and a basket and foul from DeMarre Carroll. He missed the free throw, but got the rebound. Al Horford was fouled on a dunk attempt with 2:51 remaining. He made one free throw for an 89-87 lead.
After a Pistons miss, Carroll nailed a corner 3-pointer for a five-point lead.
Jeff Teague needed another spectacular block after a Brandon Jennings steal and layup attempt to help preserve the win. He gathered the ball and fed Horford for dunk for some needed separation.
Teague took over in the third quarter. He scored 14 of the Hawks’ 24 points, including three and-one plays, on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Hawks briefly lost a halftime lead after the Pistons started the third quarter on an 8-2 run. The Hawks didn’t score a field goal until the 8:16 mark — a steal, layup and foul by Teague.
Teague led the Hawks with 18 points. Horford (17), Millsap (14), Kyle Korver (14) and Carroll (12) were the Hawks’ other double-digit scorers. Korver extended his streak to 86 games with a 3-pointer. He is three shy of the NBA all-time mark, which he can surpass next week.
Kyle Singler, who started in place of Josh Smith, led the Pistons with a game-high 22 points. Smith did not score as he went 0-for-7 in 20 minutes.
Smith, s former Hawks player who signed a four-year, $54 million free-agent contract with the Pistons this summer, came off the bench for the first time this season. He entered the game with 5:47 remaining in the first quarter. Smith was held to 11 points and six rebounds in Wednesday’s game in Atlanta. He entered the game averaging 18.8 points at home and 13.7 points on the road.
The Hawks held a 49-44 lead at halftime. They used a 20-5 first-quarter run to erase a seven-point deficit. They led by as many as nine points in the first quarter and 11 in the second quarter.
After committing 46 turnovers in the previous two games, the Hawks committed only four in the first half.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said he didn’t expect to make many adjustments after playing the Pistons two days before.
“At this stage of the season we are just trying to focus on what we do,” Budenholzer said before the game. “Who the opponent is and all those other things, we are trying to minimize that. I think tonight we’re going to continue to focus on building our habits and improve defensively. We’ll be a little more familiar with them since we just played them, but I wouldn’t say (we’ll make) adjustments.”
The Hawks host the Celtics on Saturday, part of a stretch of 10 games in 16 days.
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