On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks will attempt to complete a season sweep of the visiting Detroit Pistons. To maintain their lead in the race for the playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks will need to win against the cellar-dweller Detroit Pistons.
In Sunday’s 126-118 defeat to San Antonio, the Hawks wasted a 24-point lead and have now lost three of their last four games. Atlanta (35-36) is No. 8 in the East, three games behind No. 7 Miami and just half a game behind No. 9 games ahead of No. 1 Toronto and 1 1/2 games 10 Chicago prior to the games on Monday.
This will be Atlanta and Detroit’s last meeting. The Falcons dominated the initial two matches in Detroit and afterward the latest gathering, 130-105 on Dec. 23 in Atlanta.
Quin Snyder, the coach of Atlanta, said that his team needs to learn from its poor performance against the Spurs in the second half. The Hawks had a 83-61 halftime lead, but they only scored 35 points in the second half and 15 in the fourth.
Atlanta will require a re-visitation of structure by scoring pioneer Trae Youthful. Only the second time all season that he has not scored in the double digits was in the loss to the Spurs, when he scored just nine points. Due to a right-knee contusion, Young, who is averaging 26.7 points and 10.0 assists per game, was listed as questionable.
Saddiq Bey of Atlanta will also make his debut against his former team in this matchup. Bey, who was acquired from the Pistons at the deadline for trades, has played 14 games for Atlanta and has scored an average of 10.1 points while shooting 45.3% from three-point range.
Bey is falling off a horrible showing against San Antonio. In his last three games, he has not scored more than one point and has only made one of eight three-point attempts in that time.
The Pistons (16-56) have lost three straight and 14 of their last 15 games, including Sunday’s 112-100 defeat to Miami.
James Wiseman scored 22 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Pistons on Sunday. Wiseman has been averaging 13.8 points and 9.3 rebounds ever since he was acquired from Golden State at the trade deadline. Coach Dwane Casey said, “James played a hell of a game, but our transition defense is still tough” after he scored 12 points in the third quarter of Detroit’s loss on Sunday.
Marvin Bagley III returned to Detroit on Sunday. He returned after missing three games with a sore ankle and scored 14 points.
After striking Kevin Love of Miami in the third quarter, Jalen Duren’s status for Tuesday remains uncertain. Love needed four stitches, and Duren was checked out for a concussion after feeling woozy and never getting up off the floor. Love needed four stitches.
With left hamstring tightness, Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson has missed the last two games and will be out for at least another week.
