Detroit Pistons Set Franchise Record For Three Pointers In Loss To Hawks

It was fun while it lasted, last night, the Detroit Pistons fell to the Atlanta Hawks 106-103, snapping their seven game winning streak. Now, at 12-24, there is still hope for a team that was not very long ago one of the laughing stocks of the league.

Facing one of the best teams in the league, Detroit fought hard despite the Hawks shooting 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from three. Atlanta’s ball movement was crisp and made Detroit look a step or two behind virtually the entire game.

Perhaps a little overwhelmed by the sharp play by the Hawks had Detroit looking flat and out of energy in the first half, especially center, Andre Drummond. Plagued with a head cold, Drummond was not a factor and finished with four points and five rebounds in 17 minutes.

With Drummond out, two unlikely sources came to aid the Pistons. Recently acquired, Anthony Tolliver kept the energy of the Pistons up as he knocked down three triples and finished the game with 15 points.  The other being, forward, Kyle Singler, who had 16 points, five assist and six rebounds in the losing effort.

It was not until late in the second half where Detroit made their comeback effort.  Detroit fought back from as much as 23 down to make the game competitive, primarily because of second year guard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Pope finished the game with 20 points and six rebounds.

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But Detroit’s poor shooting (39 percent) and timely baskets by the Hawks kept Detroit from taking the lead. Part of the team’s poor shooting as the fact they threw up a franchise record 43 three-point shots, more than half were forced.

Hoisting that many three-point shots is never the correct recipe to winning but, in this case, we’ll give the Pistons a one-time pass.

Detroit played hard throughout and did not let Atlanta’s big lead keep them from making the game competitive.  Efforts like those, certainly makes President of basketball operations and first-year head coach, Stan Van Gundy happy.

“I thought it was great.” Van Gundy said on Mlive.com. “After the way we played in the first half, they could have very well just given up on us. I thought they tried to push us forward there at the end of the game and give us some life.”

Even though the Pistons came up short in front of their largest crowd since opening night (18,859), the players really fed off their energy and are part of the reason for their comeback effort.

“It definitely helps when you have your fans on your side,” Tolliver said on Mlive.com. “They’re a huge reason why we got back in the game.”

Over these past eight games, Detroit has been a completely different team and is on the brink of making the playoffs for the first time since 2007. It’s still a long way to go in the season but, the confidence this team has now and the way the Eastern Conference is set up, there is no reason why this team should not grab the seventh or eighth spot.

They will attempt to start a new winning streak when they take on the hobbled Brooklyn Nets, today at 7:30, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.