The Detroit Pistons will look for their 6th straight win tonight on the road against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Pistons are 2-1 against the Hawks this season but it hasn’t been easy and two of the games were full of late drama.
The Pistons beat the Hawks back in November on a Jaden Ivey buzzer beater that now seems to have happened years ago.
The Hawks returned the favor in their meeting at the beginning of February, with Trae Young doing the buzzer-beater honors.
Detroit is four games ahead of Atlanta in the standings, but that means nothing when these two teams get together, as there always seems to be some kind of drama. I expect my heart rate to be high.
The Pistons have a comfortable three-game cushion between themselves and the 7th seed, but these are the exact types of games they can’t afford to lose, as the schedule gets more difficult as it goes, culminating in a 10-game stretch at the end against almost all good teams.
The vibes are great coming out of Detroit and the Pistons hope to keep it going tonight in Atlanta.
The Pistons are one of the hottest teams in the league, riding a five-game winning streak, only Cleveland (6) has been better in this stretch. The Cavs and Celtics are distancing themselves from the pack in the Eastern Conference, as two-seed Boston now has a three-game cushion on the Knicks.
Pistons injuries vs. Hawks: Is Trae Young playing tonight?
It seems like I ask this question every time these two teams play and every time the answer is yes, so I assume Trae Young will be out there tonight after being upgraded to probable with Achilles tendinitis.
The Hawks will be missing Larry Nance Jr, Vit Krejci, Jalen Johnson and Kobe Bufkin. Atlanta will have a different look since the last time the Pistons played them, as they shipped out De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic and added Caris LeVert, Terrance Mann and Bones Hyland.
The Pistons are still missing Jaden Ivey, who does seem to be making nice progress with his broken leg, as he is out of the walking boot, which is a great sign.
How to watch the Pistons vs. Hawks
The game has a wonky start time of 6:00 PM ET and you can watch on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit or listen on 950 AM.
You now have a new streaming option, Amazon Prime, which is an extra 20 dollars on top of your Prime subscription. There are other streaming options that you can find here.
Keys to the game for the Pistons
The Pistons just need to keep doing what they’ve been doing during this streak, which is fly around on defense, get out in transition and dominate the paint.
The Pistons have equaled or bettered their opponents in points in the paint in 12 straight games, spearheaded by the improved play of Jalen Duren and the elite rim protection of Isaiah Stewart, who had one of the blocks of the year against San Antonio.