Peachtree Hoops - Jan 19: Hawks 93, Pistons 82The place to read about/discuss the Atlanta Hawks.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/8811/peachtree-fave.jpg2015-01-20T07:17:01-05:00http://www.peachtreehoops.com/rss/stream/76164102015-01-20T07:17:01-05:002015-01-20T07:17:01-05:00Scott comes up big in Hawks win over Pistons
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<figcaption>Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Atlanta Hawks got a big performance off the bench from Mike Scott and were able to grind out their 13th straight win over the Detroit Pistons. </p> <p>It wasn't the offensively smooth performance we have grown used to but the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a> were still able to extend their winning streak to 13-straight games by grinding out a 93-82 win over the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Detroit Pistons</a> in front of a sold out MLK Day crowd at Philips Arena.</p>
<p>"I would like to start with what a great crowd we had today in honor of Martin Luther King Jr," said <span>Mike Budenholzer</span> after the game. "It's great to see that kind of support and the community come out and be together and support a group that plays together."</p>
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<p>Atlanta sputtered a bit offensively in the early going but found just enough late to garner some separation and to pull away for a comfortable victory.</p>
<p>"Our team does a lot of things on both ends of the court to give us a chance to be successful, to continue to move this group forward," said Budenholzer. "We just talked about our defense has to be there every night. That's what put us in a position to win."</p>
<p>Atlanta's offense gets most of the attention but it has been their defensive improvement that has put them at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. The Hawks now have the league's stingiest defense allowing just 96.3 points per game. They are fifth in the league in defensive rating allowing 99.5 points per 100 possessions. They held Detroit to just 82 points and 35 percent shooting on Monday.</p>
<p>"It was a little bit of an ugly game," Budenholzer said. "Maybe some shots that - you want every one to go in - but you know they're not. A lot of shots tonight were good opportunities that didn't go. But the defense put us in a position to pull out a tough win against a team that is very, very well coached and playing at a high level. So that's good for our fans and good for our team."</p>
<p>Atlanta wins despite being out rebounded 61-42 by the Pistons including a 20-5 advantage on the offensive glass. To the Hawks credit, they limited the Pistons to just 15 second chance points off of those 20 offensive rebounds. So things could have been much worse. Still opponents with big and athletic front lines remain a concern for these Hawks.</p>
<div class="pullquote">"I covered my eyes sometimes when the ball went up to the rim."</div>
<p>"I covered my eyes sometimes when the ball went up to the rim," said Budenholzer. "Our guys are fighting. It's not for a lack of effort. It's something that we continue to talk about, the disparity in the boards. For us, we're prioritizing transition defense and getting back. We're probably 30th in offensive rebounding, and they're probably first, so it's one of those things where the opposites collide. They killed us on the boards. It's not something we like."</p>
<p>Atlanta was held without an offensive rebound in the first half and as Budenholzer said, that is often by design as they don't send a lot of players to the glass on shot attempts and instead focus on their transition defense. Still the Hawks were fortunate to keep the second chance points manageable and they didn't cost them a victory.</p>
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<span>Mike Scott</span> breaks out with big offensive performance</h4>
<p>It has been a bit of an up and down season for Mike Scott but he broke out in a big way on Monday and the Hawks needed every point. Scott tied for the team-lead with 20 points off the bench on 9-15 shooting. It was his offense that seemed to get Atlanta started in the second half and it wasn't just his jump shooting. He scored on a couple of big cuts and was really active on the offensive end of the floor.</p>
<p>"I was just doing my job on this team," said Scott after the game. "To come in and provide energy, play defense, rebound and make shots, and really just spark the team with energy. Every night that's my job."</p>
<p>Spark them he did and eight of Scot's 20 points came in the fourth quarter to help close out the win.</p>
<p>"It was great to see him have a game like that," said Budenholzer when asked about Scott's performance. "He's been working so hard. His defense and activity have maybe gone unnoticed. Every time he shoots it, he's a little bit like Kyle, we think he's going to make it. He can get hot. For him to give it to us on both end and give us that boost off the bench on a night when we're searching for points, it was great for us."</p>
<h4>Hawks pile up assists, even in a slow offensive game</h4>
<p>Atlanta continues to pile up the assists and finished with 31 on 37 made baskets in what was a slow offensive game against the Pistons. The Hawks lead the league in Assist percentage at 68.5 which measures the amount of made baskets that are assisted on. Atlanta is currently second in assists per game but are closing the gap quickly.</p>
<p>One of the staples of Atlanta's success is their unselfishness and how they will pass up a good opportunity for an even better one. This play from Monday's game is an example of that.</p>
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<p>Here Jeff Teague passes ahead to <span>Al Horford</span> who has the angle and an opportunity to take an inside shot against Detroit's Jonas Jerebko. However, Horford passes it up to dish to <span>Paul Millsap</span> for the lay in. Its not much and it might seem trivial to some but this cements the team first attitude that the Hawks have.</p>
<p>Horford ended up tying Teague for the team lead with seven assists on Monday. Nine of the 10 Atlanta players that saw playing time against the Pistons recorded at least one assist. Sharing is caring and in this case sharing means winning. </p>
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https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/20/7856143/pistons-vs-hawks-mike-budenholzer-mike-scottKris Willis2015-01-19T20:04:39-05:002015-01-19T20:04:39-05:00Video Highlights: Hawks defeat Pistons for 13th straight win<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/l2ZDKctvkl0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
<div class="source source-img"><p><p>Highlights from Monday's Hawks win over the Detroit Pistons</p></p></div>
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7855021/video-highlights-hawks-defeat-pistons-for-13th-straight-winKris Willis2015-01-19T16:54:48-05:002015-01-19T16:54:48-05:00Hawks pull away late in 93-82 win over Pistons
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<figcaption>Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>The Atlanta Hawks did not bring their "A-game" on Monday afternoon, but it was good enough to win their 13th consecutive game by a final margin of 93-82 over the Detroit Pistons. </p> <p>The Atlanta Hawks did not play well on Monday afternoon.</p>
<p>It didn't matter.</p>
<p>The Hawks won their 13th consecutive game on the strength of competent defense and late execution, as they outlasted the Detroit Pistons by a final margin of 93-82 on Martin Luther King Day in Atlanta.</p>
<p>Things got off to a flying start in Philips Arena, from fantastic pre-game festivities to strong on-court performance. The <a href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Hawks</a> leapt to an 11-2 early lead on the strength of strong defense, holding the visiting <a href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Pistons</a> to just 1 of 10 shooting over the first six minutes. Sadly, that ugly shooting would then begin to plague Atlanta in their own right.</p>
<p>Detroit responded with an 8-0 run of their own, and the home team went scoreless over nearly five minutes in the latter stretches of the first quarter. The Hawks did answer with a bit of a flourish to end the first quarter with a four-point lead at 16-12, but the first 12 minutes were fairly abysmal for the viewer. Atlanta shot just 32% against 24% for Detroit, and only <span>Andre Drummond</span> (8 points, 11 rebounds) and <span>Al Horford</span> (7 points, 4 rebounds) posted strong individual showings in the early going.</p>
<p>The second quarter was more of the game from an aesthetic perspective. Detroit mounted their inevitable surge in a hurry, outscoring the Hawks by a 13-4 margin at one point to claim their first lead of the night at 29-28, and in that stretch, the Pistons made a trio of three-pointers. Atlanta came back with an 8-2 spurt of their own after <span>Paul Millsap</span> snapped Detroit's run, and from there, it was a back-and-forth affair until halftime arrived with the Hawks leading by a 44-41 margin.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The first half was marked by strong defense by the home team, but the rebounding margin was heavily in favor of Detroit. The Pistons out-rebounded the Hawks by a 35-20 margin, including a comical 10-0 edge in offensive rebounding, and that allowed Detroit to generate 8 second-chance points to keep the scoreboard closer than it should have been. Still, Atlanta's defense held the visitors to only 34% shooting and 25% from deep, and that was enough to mitigate a 13-point, 11-rebound half from Andre Drummond and an ugly, 1-for-9 showing from <span>Jeff Teague</span> in 15 minutes before the break. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"></span>Much of the third quarter was highlighted by the "same old story" from earlier in the day. The Pistons continued to utterly dominate the glass, while Atlanta held them in check with great defense and struggled to push ahead offensively. Then, the Hawks put together a quality run at the end of the half that seemed to spark things. <span>Thabo Sefolosha</span> snatched an impactful offensive rebound, and when he came down, he found <span>Mike Scott</span> for a three to give Atlanta a four-point lead with 1:39 left in the quarter. From there, Atlanta forced Drummond to the line (where he, once again, struggled) on numerous occasions, and allowed the Hawks to race to a 7-point edge at the end of the period.</p>
<p class="p2">Mike Scott continued his individual onslaught in the fourth quarter. At one point, the versatile forward scored eight straight points for Atlanta, and that was strong enough to hold the Pistons at arm's length. <span>Kent Bazemore</span> punt a punctuation mark on that showing from Scott with a three-pointer of his own with just over six minutes to go, and that gave the Hawks their largest lead of the night to that point at 83-74.</p>
<p class="p2">From there, Detroit would never climb closer than a seven-point deficit, and Atlanta's execution peaked at the right time. Jeff Teague put a nail in the coffin with a three-point play to give the good guys a 13-point lead with less than 2:30 to play, and the result was academic at that point in time.</p>
<p class="p2">On a largely inconsistent and maddening offensive day for the Hawks, Mike Scott was tremendous off the bench. In only 19 minutes of court time, Scott scored 20 points on 9 for 14 shooting, and he was supremely active on the defensive end as well. In addition, Paul Millsap added 20 points and 7 rebounds, Al Horford put together a solid day with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, and <span>Kyle Korver</span> did his Kyle Korver impression, knocking down three triples on the way to 13 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists</p>
<p class="p2">It wasn't all positive for the Atlanta Hawks, though, as Jeff Teague struggled mightily (4-for-15 FG, 0-for-5 from three) and the rebounding was an issue from the opening tip. There won't be many nights when the Hawks can win semi-comfortably with Teague playing this way and a massive rebounding disadvantage (61-42), but the bright spot of this team is balance and depth, which were both on full display here.</p>
<p class="p2">The Atlanta Hawks will continue their seven-game homestand on Wednesday with a game against the <a href="https://www.indycornrows.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Indiana Pacers</a>. Stay tuned to Peachtree Hoops, and until then, take solace and joy in a 13-game winning streak and the best team in the Eastern Conference.</p>
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7853103/hawks-vs-pistons-final-score-atlanta-detroitBrad Rowland2015-01-19T13:26:26-05:002015-01-19T13:26:26-05:00Mack to miss a week; Schröder available vs Pistons
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<p>The Atlanta Hawks will be without Shelvin Mack for at least a week, but Dennis Schröder is available to play against the Detroit Pistons.</p> <p><a href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Atlanta Hawks</a> point guard <span>Shelvin Mack</span> exited the team's win over the <a href="https://www.blogabull.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Chicago Bulls</a> as a result of a left calf strain, and it appears that it will cost him multiple games. Head coach <span>Mike Budenholzer</span> said that Mack will miss a "minimum of a week" with the calf injury, and he is officially out for Monday afternoon's game against the <a href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Detroit Pistons</a>.</p>
<p>The 24-year-old Mack has been reduced to being the third point guard for most of the season, in conjunction with the emergence of Dennis Schröder, but most teams envy Atlanta's depth at the position. Mack is averaging 4.5 points and 2.8 assists per game in only 13.7 minutes per contest this season, but even while shooting only 37.3% from the field, he has been a valuable contributor in steadying the offense and "running the show" when deployed.</p>
<p>Dennis Schröder, fresh off a DNP on Saturday night, is available to play on Monday, per Budenholzer. Schröder's absence was somewhat of a mystery, with conflicting reports about his availability, but with Mack on the sideline, it is expected that the second-year guard will see extended time in relief of <span>Jeff Teague</span>.</p>
<p>Aside from Mack, the Atlanta Hawks will have no player injury/rest restrictions in this game, leaving the team at near full-strength against the Pistons. Stay tuned.</p>
https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7853507/hawks-vs-pistons-shelvin-mack-to-miss-a-week-dennis-schroder-to-playBrad Rowland2015-01-19T13:13:33-05:002015-01-19T13:13:33-05:00Hawks vs. Pistons: Q&A with Detroit Bad Boys
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<p>Ben Gulker of Detroit Bad Boys stopped by to answer some questions about the Pistons before today's MLK matinee. </p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/brgulker">Ben Gulker</a> of SB Nation's <a style="background-color: #ffffff;" href="http://detroitbadboys.com">Detroit Bad Boys</a> catches us up on the post-Smoove <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Pistons</a>, <span>Brandon Jennings</span>, and the future in Detroit:</p>
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https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7853427/hawks-vs-pistons-q-a-with-detroit-bad-boysDaniel Christian2015-01-19T08:00:03-05:002015-01-19T08:00:03-05:00Hawks host Pistons in MLK Day match-up
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<figcaption>Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>In an annual tradition, the Atlanta Hawks host an afternoon contest on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and this season, the opponent is the Detroit Pistons.</p> <p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.peachtreehoops.com/">Atlanta Hawks</a> continue to be the toast of the NBA. As uncomfortable as that is for some diehards (myself included), it is equally fantastic to see the team flourishing in a way to earn national respect, and on Monday afternoon at Philips Arena, the team will put a league-best 12-game winning streak on the line against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.detroitbadboys.com/">Detroit Pistons</a>.</p>
<p>Atlanta enters the annual Martin Luther King Day game on the heels of a four-game sweep on a five-night road trip, and this team continues to cook. The Hawks managed to escape the finale with a win in Chicago despite the absence of <span>Shelvin Mack</span> (exited with a calf injury) and Dennis Schröder (conspicuously benched), and Mack will miss Monday's tilt with that injury concern. Still, Atlanta enters this game at near full-strength, and regardless of Detroit's vast improvement, this is still a team with a record solidly below the .500 mark for a reason.</p>
<p>From a match-up perspective, all eyes will be on the frontcourt. <span>Al Horford</span> has been out of his mind lately, and he is the front-runner for Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors over the last seven days. Horford and <span>Paul Millsap</span> will be dealing with <span>Andre Drummond</span> and <span>Greg Monroe</span> here, and while the Hawks are giving up size, they have enough firepower offensively to neutralize that. The other individual battle to watch will be at point guard, as <span>Jeff Teague</span> continues his All-Star campaign against <span>Brandon Jennings</span>, who is the embodiment of inconsistency and inefficiency for Detroit.</p>
<p>With the recent surge, the Atlanta Hawks are now a top-5 team in the NBA in both offense (107.0 points per 100) and defense (99.8 points per 100). That is elite territory, as they join only the West-leading <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/">Warriors</a> in that class, and there is no reason that the excellent play shouldn't continue at home in front of what should be a capacity crowd. If anything, there should be concern about sluggish play at the outset of a long homestand, but if that can be withstood, Atlanta should be in quality shape against an inferior opponent. Stay tuned.</p>
<h3>Game Info</h3>
<p><b>Game Date/Time:</b> Monday, January 19, 2:30 p.m. ET</p>
<p><b>Location:</b> Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia</p>
<p><b>TV: </b>ESPN</p>
<p><b>Radio:</b> 92.9 "The Game" FM</p>
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https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7759233/pistons-vs-hawks-preview-start-time-tv-radioBrad Rowland2015-01-19T06:00:03-05:002015-01-19T06:00:03-05:00Previewing Hawks-Pistons on The Phil Naessens Show
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<figcaption>Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>On <a href="https://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2015/01/18/the-phil-naessens-show-1091-atlanta-hawks-fantasy-basketball-memphis-grizzlies-fantasy-hockey-and-cleveland-cavaliers-sports-talk/" style="background-color: #ffffff;">today's episode of The Phil Naessens Show</a>, Phil and I discuss Atlanta's big win over the Chicago Bulls and take a closer look at Monday's matchup against the Detroit Pistons on MLK Day.</p>
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https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2015/1/19/7760071/the-phil-naessens-show-atlanta-hawks-detroit-pistonsKris Willis