Hawks fourth quarter Pistons comeback falls short, 148-143

Another close but hard to stomach loss.

The Atlanta Hawks were at home to face the Detroit Pistons on Sunday evening. This is the last matchup between both teams this season, and the Pistons came in with a 2-1 advantage.

The last time they faced each other, the Hawks walked away with a close win thanks to Trae Young hitting a go-ahead bucket.

This time around, the Pistons are coming in on a five-game winning streak while the Hawks are on a two-game losing streak.

It was a back-and-forth battle between both teams in the quarter, as no one led by more than six points. Trae Young got creative in the first, pulling off his infamous nutmeg on Cade Cunningham.

The second unit came in and kept the Hawks afloat, with Caris LeVert knocking down this three.

The Hawks went into the second quarter down 33-30, but Young was able to knock down a three, and Terance Mann found himself an easy layup to help the team go up two points.

From there, it continued to be a game of trading baskets, with each team having an answer for every shot.

Risacher had a solid first half, and midway through the second quarter he knocked down a three, and on the next offensive possession, he found Onyeka Okongwu for a dunk to give the Hawks a two-point lead. Later on, he got an and-one layup to go.

Cade Cunningham started heating up for the Pistons, coming down the floor and getting almost every shot he wanted, but that didn’t stop the Hawks from answering back and keeping the game close. Young and Dyson Daniels hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game.

Down the stretch of the first half, Cunningham once again got into that mode where he couldn’t miss and put stress on the Hawks’ defense. On the other end, the Hawks couldn’t match his scoring, and going into the half, they found themselves down 76-68.

To start the second half, the Hawks came out doubling Cunningham, and though it worked for some spurts and got their deficit down to two, the Pistons found out how to combat it and increased their lead again.

The Hawks were able to go on another run to their deficit down, and Young found Mouhamed Gueye for this nice pass in the lane.

To end the third, the Pistons started to pull away, but the Hawks kept it close enough to only be down nine points. The Hawks knew that if they wanted to win this game, they were going to have to get gritty, and they made it happen diving for loose balls and playing tight defense in the fourth.

Young started to get in his bag in the fourth, and knocked down this three to cut down the Hawks’ deficit.

Young then knocked down a floater to make things even more interesting.

Dyson Daniels got this impressive steal to tie the game down the stretch for the Hawks.

Young continued his hot night and gave the Hawks a one-point lead with this three-pointer.

The Pistons ended up taking a two-point lead with 33.2 seconds left after Dennis Schroder knocked down an and-one layup. The Hawks weren’t able to convert, and the Pistons got free throws on the other end to make it a four-point game.

The Hawks once again weren’t able to convert any points and the Pistons made it a six-point game, ultimately ending their chances of coming back.

Young finished with 38 points and 13 rebounds, Georges Niang finished with 27 points, Daniels finished with 24 points and four steals, and Risacher finished with 19 points.

The Hawks will be back in action tomorrow evening against the Miami Heat.