After putting together a solid run of victories, the Atlanta Hawks (31-33) squandered a fifth opportunity to pull themselves to the .500 mark for the first time since December 16th. They traveled north to take on the struggling Detroit Pistons - 18-47 this season, but also winners of five of their last seven. The Hawks suffered through a poor Trae Young shooting night to fall in overtime 113-110 for their 33rd loss of the season.
The young superstar has been stellar for the Hawks all season, but it doesn't seem like they are equipped to win games when he isn't that unstoppable force on offense.
Trae Young finished the day with a double-double, but that won't tell the whole story. He started hot, hitting his first three early in the game. But he then went scoreless from the 8:59 mark until he hit a free throw with 3:19 in the third quarter. Trae didn't make a basket from the floor until 4:50 remained in the game.
In that period, he missed seven consecutive three-point attempts and 16 of his final 19 shots from the floor.
Before the game, Nate McMillan told reporters that he wanted his guys to "Match the urgency and effort of the Pistons." It seemed to be that way early with the team jumping out to a lead of as many as nine in the first half. But the Hawks proved unable to slow down the hapless Pistons who had only scored 113 points ten times this season. Detroit came into tonight's game 29th in field goal efficiency but finished 43-93 (46.2%) from the field. Rookie Cade Cunningham was in full-fledged attack mode as he repeatedly took the ball deep into the Hawks' defensive formations. The former number one pick finished the day with 28 points to continue his impressive rookie season, seven of which came in the overtime period. He and Jerami Grant turned in 20+ point performances.
The defense seemed to show signs of life in the second half, as they held Detroit to 42 total points. The downside? The Hawks' offense regressed alongside Trae Young's rough night.
Lou Williams did turn in an impressive fourth quarter, with seven points. Although Nate McMillan opted not to ride the hot hand as he didn't see any minutes in the overtime period.
Through the frustrations of the game, the Hawks still had a chance to win the game late. After a questionable foul call on Bogdan Bogdanovic with 1.6 seconds remaining, the Hawks trailed 101-100. John Collins drew a foul on the ensuing alley-oop, but failed to take advantage of his free throw attempts and could only tie the game.
On a positive note, Bogdan Bogdanovic made his triumphant return to the starting lineup for the first time since January 14th when he suffered the injury setback. Although he fouled out on the final offensive possession of regulation, he led the team in points with 22 and tacked on six assists and five rebounds. His sixth, and rather controversial, foul hurt the Hawks badly going into the overtime period.
With Huerter sidelined still day-to-day, it wouldn't be surprising to see him in this role again on Wednesday vs. Milwaukee.
"We've had a couple of games where it feels like we show up more against the higher-seeded teams in the league." Trae Young told reporters after the game. "It just feels like we have to have that same mindset every game. I just don't think we had it coming in today. We had it early on but (couldn't) sustain it."
The Hawks had an opportunity to climb out of the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference tonight and to take half-game leads on both Charlotte and Brooklyn. With games beginning to dwindle, it's hard to tell how many more opportunities they'll have to make that leap.
Next up, the defending NBA Champions.