The Hawks asserted their role as the favorite against Detroit for a comfortable 122-104 win, a victory that puts them 2-2 just before facing two straight road games.
Atlanta’s leader was once again Trae Young. The point guard was comfortable at all times and went up to 32 points and 9 assists in 32 minutes. His good performance was supported by a John Collins who contributed 22 points. The Pistons held on in the game until halftime, but shortly after starting the fourth quarter they were down 20 points. They could not compete for victory against an opponent who has won 24 of the last 30 games played on their court.
“It’s always great to play here, so we want to make this a difficult place for our opponents. We have to win at home. We are about to hit the road for a couple of games. Hopefully we can have the same energy tonight and be able to take those games with us, ”says Young.
Detroit for its part is now one of the only two teams that do not know what it is to win (the other is the Oklahoma City Thunder). While the draft’s No. 1 Cade Cunningham is ready to play, the Pistons have a job ahead of them; Not in vain have they suffered the three defeats by an average of 16.5 points difference and on two occasions they have not managed to score 90 points.
Last night on the offensive side the best were Saddiq Bey and Kelly Olynyk, both with 21 points. Who does not finish finding the rhythm is Killian Hayes. The second-year player has maintained an erratic line since the beginning of the season and against the Hawks he was 12 points with 4 of 11 in shooting from the field. Dwane Casey points out that they should be patient with him.
“We knew there would be moments of pain in their growth. Is young. You can’t wave a magic wand over any of our bases and say it should be doing this or that. There will be new steps, and our job now is to carry on, support him, push him… kick his butt and put one arm around him at the same time, “says the Pistons head coach.
(Photograph by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)