The Atlanta Hawks extended the Detroit Pistons’ woes to 24 straight losses Monday, with a 130-124 victory at State Farm Arena. Trae Young continued his hot-play finishing with 31 points, on 11-17 shooting overall, going 4-11 from three, and also dished out 15 assists.
The Hawks led this one the entire way, but Detroit did do a good job of hanging around. They cut the lead to as little as five points a couple times, but could not get over the hump to make the Hawks sweat.
Cade Cunningham did his best to end this nightmare-streak for the Pistons, scoring a game-high 43 points, on an efficient 16-24 from the field (3-5 3PT). He also chipped in 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and a block, but again, a victory was not in the cards for Detroit.
Atlanta started the game off by hitting five straight three’s and a total of nine in the first period alone. Oddly enough, and what probably kept Detroit within striking distance, Atlanta also went 0-8 from beyond the arc in the second quarter.
All Atlanta starters finished with double-digit scoring. De’Andre Hunter finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Saddiq Bey finished with 21 points against his former-team. Clint Capela was a force in the paint, with another double-double of, 17 points and 15 rebounds, plus three blocks. Dejounte Murray ended the night with 20 points on 8-13 shooting from the field.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was out for this one, but his “6th man-replacement,” Onyeka Okongwu, had a great night off the bench with 14 points on 5-6 shooting, and a couple thunderous dunks to invigorate the Atlanta-crowd.
Atlanta now improves to 11-15 on the season and will head back out on the road to play the upstart-Houston Rockets. Tip-off for Wednesday’s game is at 8:00 p.m. eastern from the Toyota Center in Houston.
