Hawks-Pistons Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Jan 26 2012 1:24PM

Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew feels his team regressed a bit in an ugly loss its last time out.

Detroit Pistons coach Lawrence Frank believes his squad took a step forward in its latest game, even though the result was another defeat.

Drew hopes his Hawks can shore up their defense Friday night when they visit a Pistons team trying to build on an encouraging performance.

Atlanta (13-6) begins this season series at the halfway point of a five-game road trip after losing 105-83 to San Antonio on Wednesday. The Hawks never led after the first quarter and got no closer than 15 in the fourth en route to their most lopsided defeat of the season.

Their offense never got in rhythm, finishing with 17 assists and 17 turnovers, while dropping to 0-5 when scoring fewer than 90 points. Joe Johnson, who had averaged 22.6 points in his previous seven games, finished with 10. Josh Smith scored 13 on 6-of-17 shooting and matched a season low with five rebounds.

Smith, who appeared to be developing into a potential All-Star in the wake of Al Horford's injury, could fare a bit better against Detroit. He averaged 23.0 points on 59.3 percent shooting and 9.5 rebounds versus the Pistons last season as the Hawks took three of four meetings.

While Smith and the Hawks struggled offensively Wednesday, their defense was worse.

Atlanta allowed the Spurs to shoot 51.2 percent - no other opponent this season hit better than 48.6 - and gave up more than 100 points in regulation for just the second time.

"All the things that we talked about that we needed to do from a defensive standpoint, we didn't get it done," Drew said. "We had multiple defensive breakdowns. ... It just seemed time and time again we kept losing people, for whatever reason."

Atlanta may have an easier time defensively against Detroit, averaging a league-low 85.6 points.

The Pistons (4-15) are the NBA's only team yet to reach the century mark in scoring, though that designation was nearly expunged Wednesday against Miami.

After Detroit trailed by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter, Jonas Jerebko's 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining capped an 18-5 run to put the Pistons up 98-95. Detroit wouldn't hit another shot, however, and LeBron James made his final six free throw attempts to hand the Pistons a 101-98 loss.

"I thought our guys showed great fight, spirit and resolve," Frank said after his team's 12th loss in 14 games. "You have to look at the fight for the whole game. If we can establish this as part of our DNA, we'll put ourselves in position to win a lot of games, but it can't be just (against) Miami."

Frank also was pleased by the sudden emergence of Austin Daye, who helped pick up the scoring slack with Ben Gordon sitting out a third straight game due to a sore shoulder. Daye scored a career-high 28 points after combining for 45 in his first 13 games.

"Hopefully this is a springboard type of opportunity for him," Frank said.

The Hawks hope they'll see continued improvement from Kirk Hinrich, who made his season debut Wednesday after recovering from shoulder surgery. He finished with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes.

"It felt pretty good," Hinrich said. "The last thing I wanted to happen was to come back and have some sort of setback, or wasn't able to just do the things I needed to do to contribute."

Hawks stun Pistons 107-101 in OT

By NOAH TRISTER
Posted Jan 28 2012 12:04AM

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) Joe Johnson stole the ball near his own basket and brought it up the court a bit gingerly. Something was bothering him, although it wasn't clear what until after the game.

"I jammed these two fingers on my left hand," the Atlanta star said. "I couldn't really get my feeling back. I thought we were going to call a timeout, but nobody called a timeout, so I just did what I could to try to get a shot off."

Johnson's 3-pointer over Rodney Stuckey with 1.9 seconds left sent the game to overtime, and the Hawks eventually pulled away from the Detroit Pistons for a 107-101 victory Friday night. Johnson scored 28 of his 30 points after halftime.

Detroit led 87-81 after Austin Daye's baseline shot with 39.9 seconds left, but Marvin Williams cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer with 33.5 seconds to play. Johnson then stole a pass inside. His jammed fingers were on his non-shooting hand, and as the clock ran down, he kept the ball and made a tough 3-pointer to tie it.

The Hawks started the overtime with a 12-2 run, including 3-pointers by Williams and Josh Smith.

Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said he'd wanted his team to foul before Johnson's tying shot.

"We kicked that game. We should have won the game, but we didn't make winning plays down the stretch," Frank said. "I think we were defeated as soon as that shot went in, and the game went to overtime. We have to be mentally tougher than that."

Greg Monroe scored 22 points for the Pistons and Brandon Knight added 20.

Johnson was 1 of 9 from the field in the first half, but he recovered in a big way, surpassing 14,000 points for his career and continuing a strong stretch for him since the Hawks lost Al Horford earlier this month to a torn pectoral muscle.

The Hawks are 10-1 when Johnson scores at least 20 points.

"To me it's just an unbelievable win," Atlanta coach Larry Drew said. "It was a gutsy performance. We were literally dead in the water."

Atlanta rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit and tied it in the fourth quarter, but Jason Maxiell's three-point play after an offensive rebound put the Pistons ahead 73-70 and started what looked like a decisive 8-0 run.

"We just wanted to kind of hang in there," Drew said. "We hit a bad stretch in that fourth period, but I still felt that if we got some good looks, got some guys to knock a couple of 3s down, we'll still be right there."

The Pistons couldn't hold on, starting a stretch of seven games in nine days on a sour note. Detroit had a chance to win it even after Johnson's big 3-pointer in the final seconds of the fourth, but Knight's last-second shot didn't come close.

"It was frustrating when that shot went in, because we had controlled the whole game, but you have to forget about that and play the next five minutes," Knight said. "You can't give in just because the game went to OT."

Maxiell led all scorers with 12 points in the first half. Detroit led 46-35 after Monroe's three-point play with 0.5 seconds left in the second quarter. Neither team was shooting all that well, but the Hawks turned the ball over 11 times in the half.

Detroit was playing without Tayshaun Prince (family matter) and Ben Gordon (sore shoulder).

Atlanta guard Jeff Teague left in the second half with a left ankle injury.

Williams finished with 22 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks, and Smith had 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

NOTES: Daye, who scored a career-high 28 points for the Pistons in a loss to Miami on Wednesday night, finished with 12 on Friday. ... Johnson has 14,010 career points.

Notebook: Hawks 107, Pistons 101

By Dana Gauruder, for NBA.com
Posted Friday January 27, 2012 11:26PM

THE FACTS: Guard Joe Johnson overcame a slow start to score 30 points as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Detroit Pistons in overtime 107-101 at The Palace Friday night. Limited to two first-half points, Johnson scored 10 fourth-quarter points, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation. Center Zaza Pachulia had six of his 16 points in overtime.

QUOTABLE: "In the second half, I had to step my play up to help this team get over the hump. In those situations when you play good defense, you don't expect for a guy to make that shot. He played good defense and it was a tough shot. I was lucky it went down."
-- Joe Johnson on his 3-pointer at the end of regulation while being guarded by Rodney Stuckey.

THE STAT: 13. It wasn't Friday the 13th but that was an unlucky number for the Pistons. They missed 13 layups or tip attempts in the first half, which allowed the Hawks to stay in contact. They wound up with 25 missed shots at the rim, including four in overtime.

TURNING POINT: The Pistons were on the verge of wrapping up a victory when forward Austin Daye made a baseline shot with 39.9 seconds left, giving his team an 87-81 lead. But just six seconds later, Detroit left Hawks forward Marvin Williams alone in the left corner and his 3-pointer made it a one-possession game. Johnson then stole a Stuckey pass, setting the stage for his tying jumper.

QUOTABLE II: "It was tough, It was loud out there and we couldn't hear [Coach Lawrence Frank] but you've got to guard Joe Johnson pretty much fullcourt. We've got to communicate more and understand if it's a close game, it's going to be in Joe Johnson's hands."
-- Pistons forward Jason Maxiell on Johnson's clutch 3-pointer

HOT: Maxiell provided an unexpected offensive spark, scoring 12 second-quarter points. He hadn't scored more than 11 all season. He finished with 19 points, his highest total since he had 19 against Atlanta on March 13, 2010. The last time Maxiell reached 20 points was April 11, 2008, when he scored a career-high 28 against Washington.

NOT: The Hawks' reserves were outscored by the Pistons' bench, 43-18. None of the six players coach Larry Drew called upon contributed more than seven points and they also combined for seven turnovers. Entering the game, the Pistons bench had been outscored by an average of 9.9 points per game.

NOTABLE: Hawks starting point guard Jeff Teague left the game in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle and did not return. ... Detroit forward Tayshaun Prince missed his second consecutive game because of a family matter. The Pistons were also without guards Ben Gordon (shoulder) and Will Bynum (foot). ... Center Greg Monroe's 22 points and 11 rebounds led Detroit, which has lost 13 of its last 15. ... Williams finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. ... The Pistons reached 100 points for the first time this season.

UP NEXT: For the Hawks, Sunday @ New Orleans, Tuesday @ Toronto, Thursday vs. Memphis. For the Pistons, Saturday @ Philadelphia, Monday @ Milwaukee, Tuesday @ New York.

• Hawks: Horford
• Pistons: Villanueva

• Hawks: --
• Pistons: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, MI
• Officials: #14 Ed Malloy, #65 Sean Wright, #66 Haywoode Workman
• Attendance: 14010
• Duration: 2:31