Quietly and efficiently, the Atlanta Hawks keep piling up victories.
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“Did they play yesterday?”
AUBURN HILLS The Pistons’ Andre Drummond is in the midst of his first playoff race and knows at this point every game counts. “It meant a lot to prove something to ourselves that we could play with them”. “You look at a period of 10 games, 15 games, you can get a good grasp of where we’re at as a team. We feel good about where we’re at”. The backup came up with 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench on Friday, and has hit double-figures in three of the team’s last five games, including a 21-point, seven-rebound performance against the Nets. “We tried to hang in there and got it to eight or nine and couldn’t get over the hump because they were playing so well”. They’re probably going to go ahead and win their next five. When you’re debating which of three players on the same team stole the game, you’ve got first-world problems. PG Jeff Teague led the team with 18 points and 6 assists, and PF Paul Millsap scored 14 with 13 rebounds in the game. Some of it was exhausted legs, the Pistons playing their fourth game in six nights, as several of their perimeter shots missed short.
“We needed to be able to get one steal and a quick basket to have any chance”, Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. Then, we kind of cruised.
Drummond is averaging 20.3 points and 16.3 rebounds in the series and had 18 and 19 in Detroit’s 106-94 road win in the October 27 opener. Detroit remained two games ahead of Chicago, which lost to Orlando on Saturday, for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“Great blocks, contesting shots”, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said.
The Charlotte Hornets will next play against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, March 26th as the they attempt to win the second half of a back to back away from home. “That’s the most intense and energetic anybody’s played against us all year”.
“When he’s defending like that, our defense goes to a whole another level”, Marcus Morris said. “To come off a back-to-back and have that much energy really opened my eyes”.
Drummond and Atlanta guard Dennis Schroder exchanged words later in the quarter after Drummond elbowed him in the head and Schroder committed an offensive foul. Schroder was given a foul and Drummond received a technical. The Hawks took an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes, the Pistons missing their first seven shots.
Detroit couldn’t muster another run. “It was more about them than us”. “More often than not, they’re feeling well and kind of in a good place”, he said….
Most of all, they left an impression on Van Gundy and the Pistons. The Hawks are 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings. The league’s worst free throw shooting team, the Pistons have gone 76.6 percent from the line over the streak.
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With nine games to play, the Pistons have a magic number: nine.
