Looking to tighten up defense, Hawks open two-game set vs. Pistons
Doubleheaders are a rarity in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons won’t play two games in one night, but they’ll face each other in back-to-back games at the same venue.
The Hawks will play at Detroit on Wednesday in the first meeting of the two-game set as they look to rebound from their first loss of the season.
Atlanta defeated Houston and Orlando in its first two games, then lost to Charlotte 126-109 on Sunday. The Hawks’ trip to Detroit will be their first road test this season.
Charlotte picked apart the Hawks’ defense, shooting 52.2 percent and scoring 82 points during the second and third quarters.
The Hawks shot 41.1 percent overall but made just 22.9 percent of their 3-point attempts. Forward John Collins misfired on all seven of his long-range attempts.
Thus far, the Hawks have been reliant on their starters for most of their scoring punch. Trae Young, as usual, leads the club in scoring (25.3 points per game) and assists (11.7). Backcourt partner Murray is second in both categories (19.7, 8.3) while grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game and nabbing 3.3 steals per outing.
Collins is averaging a double-double (19.0 points, 10.3 rebounds), but the highest-scoring reserve, Onyeka Okongwu, is averaging just 8.7 points. Charlotte’s reserves outscored Atlanta’s bench 52-28.
The Pistons will be trying to bounce back from three consecutive road losses. They’ll be playing the tail end of a back-to-back after losing to Washington 120-99 on Tuesday.
Detroit was outscored 64-50 after the break.
Bojan Bogdanovic was the most consistent offensive threat, scoring 25 points and going 4-for-7 on 3-point attempts. The rest of the team shot 4-for-21 from deep.
Franchise player Cade Cunningham had another subpar night, shooting 7-for-19 while scoring 19 points. He had as many turnovers (three) as assists. Cunningham is shooting 38.6 percent through the first four games.
Detroit won its lone home game, 113-109, against Orlando, when it recorded 31 assists.
