Detroit Pistons are back on the road against the Atlanta Hawks
The Detroit Pistons travel to Atlanta to play the struggling Hawks in a case of two teams with very different trajectories.
The Detroit Pistons will meet the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. The Hawks have lost four in a row and will be at home for just the second time in the last nine games, winning just once in that stretch.
The barren run comes off the back of six straight wins and starting the season by winning 9 of their first 11 games, vying with Cleveland Cavaliers for a spot at the top of the Eastern Conference in that early stretch.
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Now sitting seventh, a loss here could drop the Hawks to as low as tenth. They will be looking at maintaining some strong home form (6-2) against a Pistons team that has struggled on the road (3-8).
The Pistons though have recently found some solid form on the back of good play from their starters. They have won two straight and four of their last five after a slow start to the season, particularly on the road.
As they wait for the return of star point guard Reggie Jackson from injury, Ish Smith has been given the opportunity to run the team with differing results. He has found some form of late averaging 15 points, 5 assists and just over 3 rebounds per game. The most impressive statistic is the fact he has only had 3 turnovers in the last 8 games. He has also shot over 47% from the field and 40% from behind the three point line in that stretch.
This game might be won or lost in the paint. Dwight Howard and Andre Drummond have both impressed so far this season. Both are averaging over 14 points and about 13 rebounds with Howard (4.4) having the slight advantage on the offensive glass over Drummond (3.6).
Power forwards Tobias Harris (17) and Paul Millsap (16) lead the scoring for each squad.
This is the first of four match-ups between the teams this season. The Hawks won the series 3-1 last season after dropping the opener to the Pistons.
A win for either will push them within touching distance to the top 4 while the loser can slide out of the top 8 completely, this is an important game for both.
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