Atlanta Hawks vs Detroit Pistons: Final Score Predictions For Tonight's Game

The Atlanta Hawks arrive in Detroit tonight to face the Pistons on an eight game losing streak. Not only that, but the Hawks are 0-2 already against the Pistons and would lose the season series with a loss tonight. While the Hawks have lost eight in a row, they are only three games outside of the 6th seed and the Pistons are one of the teams ahead of them. It sounds crazy given how poorly they have played recently, but the Hawks are still in playoff contention.

Detroit has been a tough matchup for Atlanta this season. In the first game, they raced out to a big lead in the first quarter and held off the Hawks at the end. In the second matchup in Atlanta, Detroit dominated for most of the game and won 114-104. Cade Cunningham has been a tough cover for the Hawks this season and that is going to be one of the game's biggest keys.

Coming into tonight's game, the Hawks are 10th in the NBA in PPG, 19th in FG%, 14th in 3PA, 26th in 3P%, 1st in FTA, 27th in turnovers, and 8th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 21st in points per 100 possessions, 22nd in effective field goal percentage, 20th in turnover percentage, 10th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 28th in PPG allowed, 27th in field goal percentage allowed, 23rd in three-point attempts allowed, and 27th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 15th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 27th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Detroit ranks 16th in PPG, 14th in FG%, 19th in 3PA, 14th in 3P%, 27th in FTA, 10th in rebounding, and 22nd in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Detroit ranks 18th in points per 100 possessions, 15th in effective field goal percentage, 21st in turnover percentage, 9th in offensive rebounding rate, and 28th in free throw rate.

Defensively, the Pistons are 17th in PPG allowed, 16th in FG% allowed, 13th in 3PA allowed, and 26th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Pistons are 12th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 20th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Trae Young is coming off one of his best performances of the season. He scored 34 points and handed out 17 assists against the Pacers on Saturday night, but he will be up against Ausar Thompson again tonight and Thompson gave him a lot of trouble a couple of weeks ago in their matchup.

Offensively, Dyson Daniels had 23 points, four rebounds and four assists on Saturday, but defensively is where the Hawks need him to make ani impact tonight. He will be tasked with guarding Cunningham again tonight and the Hawks have to make sure they limit him tonight.

While it is hard to talk about good things during an eight game winning streak, the play of Zaccharie Risacher has been a sight for sore eyes. After scoring 30 points against Cleveland on Thursday, Risacher scored 17 points vs Indiana on 6-11 shooting and closed the game, which is something that Quin Snyder has not done much during Risacher's rookie season.

Who will start at the four tonight? Atlanta has used Mouhamed Gueye for two games, but started Dominick Barlow on Saturday. While De'Andre Hunter is going to get the majority of the minutes at the position, but it will be interesting to see who Snyder sends out there first.

Onyeka Okongwu is coming off of a double-double against the Pacers, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He and Larry Nance will continue to be the center rotation and Nance has not been playing his best since coming back from his hand injury. He had four points and five rebounds on Saturday.

The Hawks bench has been very inconsistent during this losing streak. De'Andre Hunter, Keaton Wallace, Garrison Matthews, Vit Krejci, and Larry Nance Jr combined to score 31 points on Saturday, with 14 of them coming from Matthews. Hunter only scored four points and shot the ball five times. With Johnson out for the season, Hunter has to be more effective scoring the ball. It was good to see Matthews finally start to shoot well again and they will need that more going forward.

Prediction

It is hard to have much faith in the Hawks right now, but the losing streak has to come to an end at some point right? Detroit has been a tough team for the Hawks to face this season, but they can win this game. I think Young, Risacher, and Hunter have good nights on offense while Daniels limits Cunningham enough for the Hawks to get the win.

Final Score: Hawks 116, Pistons 111