Official Game Thread: Hawks at Pistons

[lethalweapon3]

“People don’t Shimmy no mo’. All dey do is diss.”

 

First Place Hawks! I’m right where I was for years with the Marcus Mariota/Desmond Ridder Falcons. Just get me to a game or three below .500, win your division, and bring me some playoff action!

It’s been possible, for years, since we’ve had USDA Grade-A Basura out of the division where the Dirty Birds reside. This go-round, it may not just be the NFC South where Atlanta can win the war of attrition.

There’s always the Hornets and Wizards scrapping for table scraps. But now we have Paolo out for a month or so for the defending NBA Dirty South Division champs. And there’s whatever the heck it is that Jimmy Buckets is doing on the floor lately. So I’m ready for the Hawks to do just enough to be maybe more than Play-In Road Game fodder.

Post-leftover Halloween candy hangover, what I was not prepared for was watching Monsieur Zaccharie (33 points, 6-for-10 3FGs, 3 steals, 2 blocks) make Ris’ Pieces out of the Knicks, dampening the spirits of all those OTP attendees at State Farm Arena that had just shed their Celtics swag from two nights before (That’s right, Trae! Boo! Take y’all Dellavedovas home!).

And do I spy, with my little eye, Shawn the Matrix Marion without the janky shot mechanics, in Jalen Johnson (last 3 games: 24.0 PPG, 11.7 RPG, 6.3 APG)? Maybe it’s the caramel creams getting to me. But I’m sure that’s Clint Capela (NBA-best 73.6 FG%) making not just his bunnies, but his crunch-time closeout free throws (Trae…), too? Too sweet!

At any rate, before returning home to host what’s left of the Bulls, the Hawks (4-5) have headed north to take on Cade Cunningham’s Pistons (7 PM Eastern, FanDuel Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, FDSN Detroit) on the Island of Miscast Toys.

I’m as much a Position Fiend as you’ll find, and I remain adamant that Jaden Ivey ought not be operating as a starting point guard in the NBA. Same sentiment, though, as it pertains to Cunningham. I’d rather see Pistons assistant Jarrett Jack in that spot.

Cade’s 20-10-10 triple double on Wednesday elevated his assist average to 7.7 APG (4.6 TOs/game), dwarfing the second-place Ivey (3.8 APG, 3.0 TOs/game, 41.3 3FG%) on the Pistons. But the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Cunningham (17-11-11 vs. LAL on Monday), much like Luka, should be plugged in to the 3-spot as a point-forward, a secondary ballhandler who fills in the rebounding gaps when he’s not flooding the buckets and making opponents pay for double teams.

I’d rather have Ivey (early career-bests of 19.8 PPG, 47.1 FG%, 41.3 3FG%) coming off the bench as a change-of-pace scoring guard. He should be playing behind a steadier play-creator, and alongside Tim Hardaway, Jr. in the backcourt. A sixth-man sub for the better part of five seasons in Dallas, Hardaway starts under new coach J.B. Bickerstaff, at the 3-spot that should be reserved for Cunningham.

Detroit has steadily worsened in winning the turnover battles every season since being rewarded with the #1 pick in 2021 (12.0 opponent TOs/game, beating out NYK’s 12.1 for last in NBA; 16.8 team TOs/game, 27^th in NBA). The good news is they’ve kept the turnovers down in their past two games, thrilling the Little Caesars Arena crowd with a 115-103 win over LeBron and AD’s Lakers on Monday (12 DET player TOs) for their third win in four games.

They also have ample rebounders around Cunningham, from Jalen Duren and newcomer Tobias Harris in the starting frontcourt to reserves Isaiah Stewart and Paul Reed, and that was on display when Detroit out-boarded the Lakers 55-37, and the Nets 47-27 in a win at Brooklyn one day before. But when they go smaller at the 3-spot, with MotorCade (0.6 SPG, zero steals in past four games) chasing small guards’ taillights up the court, and Hardaway and bench scoring leader Malik Beasley manning the wing, Detroit cedes rebounds at unfortunate times.

On Wednesday in Charlotte, Bickerstaff shifted Harris to center with Duren (doubtful for today) exiting early due to an ankle sprain. His Pistons played with rebounding parity against a team missing both Mark Williams and Nick Richards.

With both Hardaway, rookie Ron Holland (subbed-in for Cade) and Beasley (subbed-in for Beef Stew, who is oft-miscast at PF) on the floor with the game on the line, Grant Williams missed an open perimeter jumper for the Hornets, only to have Brandon Miller slip around Beasley, beating him, Harris and THJ to the rebound for Charlotte’s winning putback layup.

Now, hey, ask any Detroit fan from last season, when the Pistons won their third game on December 30 (3-36 by January 12), to accept a 3-6 season start, and they would do so gratefully. New PBO Trajan Langdon sought out veteran upgrades, like Beasley (early struggle-bus for the ATL native, shooting 32.4 FG% after 44.3% last year w/ MIL), Hardaway (48.3 3FG%), and Harris, to accelerate the development process around Cunningham, Duren, Ausar Thompson (out, illness) and Ivey.

What the Piston fans, unlike me, don’t carry are illusions that their team has a snowball’s chance at hanging up a division banner anytime soon. After all, Bickerstaff’s ex-team, Cleveland, is playing like gangbusters and, surely, Giannis and Dame will get up to Haliburton’s level. Any minute now.

That ought to leave the Pistons and Bulls scrapping for table scraps in the Central Division. There’s no need for Atlanta (4-5), despite their own grimy injury list, to make things easy on those teams this weekend.

As was the situation with Johnson (tied his former career-high with 28 points vs. DET on April 3) last season, there’s no reason to be certain that Risacher will produce offensively like he did on Wednesday at a more consistent level. And there is the Law of Averages awaiting to befall Capela. The Hawks will need a more assertive performance from the guy who should be, for now, their top bench scorer, Onyeka Okongwu (11.7 PPG, a shade behind Garrison Mathews’ 11.9).

Okongwu’s 17.9 points per-36 is on pace to be a career-high, and it would be even higher but for a 56.4 FG%, due to the elevating perimeter-shooting volume, that falls beneath last year’s career-low of 61.1%. Today, and tomorrow, Atlanta needs Okongwu and David Roddy to be as relentless in the paint at both ends as Trae Young is in pushing the pace, straining a Pistons frontcourt, likely without Duren, that keeps one of its best rebounders frequently glued to guards, and a Bulls team that allows a league-high in paint points.

Young leads the Hawks’ starters with a subpar, for now, 31.0 3FG%. With Dyson Daniels and Risacher hounding Hardaway and Ivey off the three-point line, there should be lots of caroms up for grabs. If Atlanta wins the rebounding and turnover battles, they won’t need last-second heroics, from either its vets or its rookie, to secure victory in the fourth quarter. The Hawks don’t have to prove they’re among the best in the East right now. This weekend, we’ll be satisfied seeing this club represent itself as the best the South has to offer. In closing… first place!

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[NBASupes]

Detroit been tough this year, should be a good game 

[Spud2nique]

51 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Monsieur Zaccharie (33 points, 6-for-10 3FGs, 3 steals, 2 blocks) make Ris’ Pieces out of the Knicks,

 

 

51 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

And do I spy, with my little eye, Shawn the Matrix Marion without the janky shot mechanics, in Jalen Johnson

I dig that.

 

53 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

MotorCade

 

 

54 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Atlanta needs Okongwu

Really do.

 

55 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

first place!

Yes sir!

Thanks @lethalweapon3 as always! 
 

Go Hawks!!!

[Spud2nique]

He means biz now..

 

 

 

[AHF]

For those that didn't notice:

[ShooterSays]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

He means biz now..

 

 

 

When did the Hawks get Derrick White?

 

 

No way Trae cut his hair though. I'm calling cap on this one.

[hylndr11]

 

 

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Edited November 8 by hylndr11

[kg01]

43 minutes ago, AHF said:

For those that didn't notice:

My guy @Spud2nique rn ....

 

 

[REHawksFan]

33 minutes ago, hylndr11 said:

 

 

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/L3uaUI5EY8av086k4S" width="480" height="384" style="" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/deal-with-it-predator-masebrothers-L3uaUI5EY8av086k4S">via GIPHY</a></p>

 

 

 

 

Edited November 8 by REHawksFan

[TheTruth]

As a fellow bald man: "Air Benders, Unite!"

But seriously, no way did he cut that hair. I, too, call cap on this.

[JeffS17]

Trae ain't ever cutting his hair, he would grow it out like Robin Lopez before he cut it 

[kg01]

3 hours ago, NBASupes said:

Detroit been tough this year, should be a good game 

Duren likely being out hurts them.  A. Thompson also out iiuc.  

I bet they anticipate having Ivey try to go at Trae defensively.  I'd put ZR on him, Dyson on Fade.

This will definitely take a professional, 48 minute effort.  Pistons won't be pushovers. 

Edited November 8 by kg01

[Spud2nique]

22 minutes ago, kg01 said:

My guy @Spud2nique rn ....

 

 

I’m dead… I’m freakin dead @kg01. Oh man, thanks, I needed this more than you’ll ever know right now.  

52 minutes ago, hylndr11 said:

 

 

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@kg01 his turn… 

[REHawksFan]

11 minutes ago, TheTruth said:

As a fellow bald man: "Air Benders, Unite!"

But seriously, no way did he cut that hair. I, too, call cap on this.

I'm also bald with a beard.  Takes a certain shape of head to pull it off.  Also didn't notice it at first, but that pic is of him at UGA during training camp.  Not even a recent pic. 

[Spud2nique]

Just now, REHawksFan said:

Not even a recent pic. 

You see a mole somewhere to detect that? 

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, REHawksFan said:

Takes a certain shape of head

Indeed I’ve done it but mine gives you a mini roller coaster ride down the front. I don’t look like dude from Nightcourt Bull or anything but I got no Air Jordan dome either if you know what I mean.

Dang, I’d really like a smooth head. ..

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Time to get to .500.

[TheTruth]

I kinda want it to be true just for the lulz.

[sturt]

Chilling what you can do with AI these days.

[Spud2nique]

3 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Time to get to .500.

Wanna see some New York media BR bs Burd?

Peep this. Both similar records yet one is ranked 12th the other is 21st.  AND WE BEAT THEM!!!  

Edited November 8 by Spud2nique