The Atlanta Hawks and the Detroit Pistons battled it out into overtime Monday night, as the Pistons held on for a 113-110 victory at home. A dragged out, sloppy game throughout, the ending made for quite a whacky finish. Both teams had chances to win this game at the line in regulation and neither sealed the deal. Detroit was able to close out the Hawks and keep up their hot play of late. The Pistons are now 3-1 in overtime games this season compared to the Hawks, who fell to 0-1 after their first overtime matchup this year.
Trae Young had a rough night for the Hawks shooting-wise, going 5-of-20 overall, and 2-of-7 from deep. The Pistons did a good job of bottling up Young and making him utilize his teammates on his way to 12 assists. Young did have a chance to win it for the Hawks, but he missed a 34-foot three-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining in overtime.
The final seconds of regulation were very eventful. Bogdan Bogdanovic fouled Pistons rookie, Cade Cunningham, before the ball was inbounded, with 1.6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Both teams were in the bonus, and Cunningham hit both free throw’s to put the Pistons up by one. The Hawks called a timeout to advance the ball to half-court, and on the inbounds pass, Danilo Gallinari threw a lob pass to John Collins. Collins was fouled in the air by Marvin Bagley III and sent to the line to shoot a pair. Collins split the free throw’s, and tied the game at 101 going into overtime.
Bogdanovic fouled out before the overtime period. Besides his crucial foul blunder at the end of regulation, Bogdanovic did keep up his recent sharp play, finishing with 22 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. His mistake will be tough to overlook given the stakes at that moment, but without ‘Bogi’ the Hawks might have not even been in this game.
The elusive .500 mark remains out of grasp for the Hawks. A game that Vegas had Atlanta (-7), but the Hawks could not find a way to win against this young Pistons squad. Execution was lacking for Atlanta down the stretch and it showed in how the game turned out. Like many times this season, the lack of urgency was evident. The Hawks still control their own destiny, but their schedule is running out. Atlanta needs to make a run here for any chance at a six-seed or higher.
The Hawks continue their road trip and head into Milwaukee to take on the Bucks, Wednesday evening. Atlanta has won both meetings against Milwaukee this season. Both games were in Atlanta. Tip-off for this one will be at 8:00 p.m. eastern from the Fiserv Forum.
