The Sports XchangeHawks aim to break skid at home vs. Pistons
The Atlanta Hawks will try to end their two-game losing streak on Friday against a Detroit Pistons team that has had difficulty winning on the road.
Detroit (5-5) has dropped three of its last four road games, the exception being a 103-96 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
Atlanta (3-8), which lost 112-107 to the Knicks on Wednesday, would like to grab another victory before embarking on a four-game road trip that begins on the West Coast and ends in Indiana.
Atlanta's top scorer has been guard Trae Young, who has scored in double figures in his first 11 games to set a franchise record. He's averaging 18.6 points and 8.1 assists, fifth best in the NBA and best among rookies. Young has had three consecutive games with double-digit points and assists. Rookie Omari Spellman had a breakthrough game on Wednesday against the Knicks. He had 18 points and 10 rebounds -- both career highs -- in posting his first career double-double.
The young Hawks have played hard.
- They rank third in turnovers forced (17.6), sixth in steals (8.6) and seventh in blocks (6.2).
- They are tied for the league lead in charges drawn (13) and rank second in deflections (15.7) and fourth in loose balls recovered (9.9).
But Atlanta has had difficulty with third-quarter letdowns. It happened again on Wednesday when the Hawks were outscored by 17 points and fell short in their determined comeback.
"We get down double digits in that third quarter, really from an inability to score," Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said. "There are a lot of reasons. Out of sync. Trying to find the rhythm of the group. Someone has to kind of give us life.
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