Atlanta Hawks take down Detroit Pistons thanks to defensive effort

The Atlanta Hawks had a pretty mediocre display shooting the basketball Monday against the Detroit Pistons–still though, they came away with a 93-82 victory.

What really won their 13th straight game, was another impressive defensive performance and enough of a late push to keep the Pistons at bay.

Atlanta shot 44 percent from the floor, 30 percent (9-for-30) from the 3-point line and were out-rebounded a ridiculous 61-42. In almost any other situation–and in all of these situations with last year’s version of the team–the Hawks would have come away with a big loss.

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But the team was able to hold the Pistons to an even worse offensive performance.

Detroit ended the game shooting 35.4 percent from the floor 25.7 percent (9-for-35) from 3 and just 57.7 percent from the free throw line.

Greg Monroe was the only played that the Hawks couldn’t really keep in check–he finished with 16 points and a game-high 20 rebounds. Andre Drummond kept the Pistons alive early, and finished with a double-double of his own, scoring 13 and hauling in 18 boards.

On the flip side, Al Horford was one of the few players who was having much success in the early goings for Atlanta, and he finished the game as the team’s most efficient starter, going 6-for-9 from the floor. The big man scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and piled on seven assists for good measure.

It was a struggle shooting the basketball for most of the other Atlanta starters, especially Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll. Teague shot 4-of-15, while missing all five of his 3-point attempts while Carroll went just 2-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-3 from deep.

Mike Scott proved to be a huge asset off of the bench for the Hawks, and scored eight straight points for the team in the fourth quarter to help Detroit back. The forward finished the game tied with Paul Millsap for a team-high 20 points. He went 9-for-15 from the floor in his 21 minutes of action, shooting a pair of 3’s and grabbing five rebounds.

While this certainly wasn’t the prettiest performance the Hawks have put on, I think this is an encouraging game for Hawks fans. It’s one thing to win in the NBA when you’re shooting the lights out, but when you are struggling on the offensive end, and still manage a double-digit victory–you know something is going well.

And for the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, that’s the defense.

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