Three quick observations from Friday night’s 130-105 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena
RUEFUL REPEAT – Third quarters have suddenly become the Pistons kryptonite. Outscored by 45 points in the last four third quarters coming into the final pre-Christmas game on the schedule, the Pistons were again blitzed out of the chute to start Friday night’s second half at Atlanta. The Hawks erased a three-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Pistons 15-3 in less than four minutes and entered the fourth quarter with a 95-81 lead. Atlanta’s 35-point third quarter was only the third-highest total registered by Pistons opponents over those five games behind the 44 from Brooklyn, featuring a 26-point Kevin Durant quarter, and Sacramento’s 38 points. The game got away from the Pistons completely in the first two-plus minutes of the fourth quarter when Atlanta outscored the Pistons 10-0. The Pistons shot 51 percent in the first half, but turned as frigid as the weather gripping much of the country in the second half to finish at 41 percent. At one point bridging the third and fourth quarters, the Pistons went nearly eight minutes between baskets.
BOGEY VS. BOGEY – When Atlanta’s Deandre Hunter picked up two fouls in less than two minutes to start the game, the Hawks replaced him with Bogdan Bogdanovic, who promptly matched up with Bojan Bogdanovic. No, they’re not related. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 23, Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 19. The Pistons’ Bogdanovic was born in Bosnia and Herzogovina and is Croatian. Bojan, 33, was the first pick of the second round by Miami in the 2011 NBA draft but spent the next three years playing in Turkey before debuting for Brooklyn in the 2014-15 season. He was traded to Washington to spend the final two months there of the 2016-17 season, then signed as a free agent in Indiana and spent two years with the Pacers before signing in Utah to start the 2019-20 season and spending three seasons with the Jazz ahead of his September trade to the Pistons. Bogdan, 30, is Serbian and was the 27th pick of the 2014 NBA draft. He also spent three seasons in Turkey before making his NBA debut in 2017 with Sacramento, where he spent his first three seasons. He signed with Atlanta in free agency in 2020. Bojan, who’s started 520 of 637 career games, is averaging a career-best 20.7 points a game this season with a career average of 15.3. Bogdan, who’s started a little less than half of his 326 career games, is averaging a career-best 17.6 points a game this season, though he’s only played 10 games around injuries, and has a 14.3 career average.
TOUGH DUTY – The challenge for young Pistons guards Killian Hayes, 21, and Jaden Ivey, 20, was considerable against Atlanta with its All-Star tandem of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. They acquitted themselves well for a half considering how heavily the Hawks offense tilts toward their backcourt, but the second half didn’t go quite as well. Ivey and Hayes scored a combined 20 points with six assists on 8 of 13 shooting in the first half, but Ivey was 1 of 7 in the second half after being 4 of 7 at halftime and finished with 15 points and four assists in 28 minutes after averaging 22.3 points on 56 percent shooting over his previous three games. Hayes probably was the Pistons best player in the second half, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists on 7 of 10 shooting. Hayes continues his progression as a more efficient and selective scorer, which essentially began when he was elevated to the starting lineup in November when Cade Cunningham went down with what would become a season-ending injury requiring surgical repair to a left shin stress fracture. Young finished with 26 points and 13 assists for Atlanta, hitting 9 of 15 shots, and Murray with 26 points, five assists and four steals.