The Detroit Pistons (28-45) welcome the Atlanta Hawks (55-18), the Eastern Conference’s best team, to The Palace of Auburn Hills. The game gets underway at 7:30 pm ET on Tuesday, Mar. 31 and will air on SPSO and FSN-DET+.
The Pistons lost to the Heat 109-102 on Sunday. Andre Drummond recorded 32 points and 14 rebounds, earning his 41st double-double of the year. The Hawks, meanwhile, are coming off a 115-100 loss at the hands of the Hornets on Saturday. Mike Muscala scored 18 points and recorded 10 rebounds earning his first double-double of the season.
Over the last five games, Drummond and Reggie Jackson have played well for the Pistons. During that stretch, Drummond has averaged 20.2 points, 14.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.8 blocks. Not to be outdone, Jackson has put up 24.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers.
The Hawks have won all three contests against the Pistons this season, including a 93-82 victory in their last matchup. Al Horford was a standout player in the game, producing 14 points, six rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and one block.
Oddsmakers have deemed this game an even matchup and the Over/Under (O/U) is unavailable at the moment. The Pistons enter the game with records of 28-45 Straight Up (SU) and 36-37 Against The Spread (ATS). They are 7-3 ATS over their last 10 games. The Pistons have a distinct advantage on the boards in this matchup. They are the fourth-ranked rebounding team in the NBA, averaging 45.2 per game, while the Hawks rank 28th in the league with 40.5 per game.
On the other side, the Hawks head into the game with records of 44-29 ATS and 55-18 SU. In Eastern Conference games, Atlanta has gone 34-10 SU and 26-18 ATS. The Hawks are shooting lights out so far, with a .465 field-goal percentage that ranks third in the NBA. The Hawks are a top-five team in the league at finding the open man with an average of 25.5 assists per game. Atlanta’s defense as a whole has been firing on all cylinders so far, ranking fifth in the NBA with only 97.3 points allowed per game. A large part of Atlanta’s game is creating turnovers and turning them into points. They are scoring 18.2 points per game off turnovers, which ranks fifth in the league.
Following the Hawks’ latest win over Detroit, their SU record rises to 7-3 over the Pistons in the last 10 games. The Hawks also hold the advantage ATS with a record of 6-4. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers, Detroit and Atlanta each held the edge in all three of these categories once in the last 10 meetings.
Predictions: SU Winner – DET, ATS Winner – DET
Notes
On average, Atlanta puts up 102.4 points per game (ranked 11th). Detroit ranks 15th in points allowed per game with 99.7.
Detroit ranks 22nd in points allowed per home game (101.3 PPG), while Atlanta ranks seventh in points per away game with 101.9.
When allowing fewer than 100 points, the Hawks are 40-4 on the season. When the Pistons score fewer than 100, they are an underachieving 8-32.
Atlanta is 15-14 when allowing 100 or more points this season. The Pistons have a solid 20-13 record when hitting triple digits.
The Pistons have a defensive rating of 103.6 (ranked 20th), while the Hawks rank sixth for their offensive rating of 106.0.
The Atlanta Hawks have one of the best field goal percentages this season, ranking third in the league with a FG% of 46.5%. When their opponents record a similar or higher FG%, the Detroit Pistons have a subpar 8-29 record.
The Detroit Pistons average 25.0 three point attempts per game and are 15-21 when attempting at least 25 in a game. The Atlanta Hawks average 25.9 attempts and have a stellar record (33-11) when attempting 25 or more.
The Atlanta Hawks are among the best in the league with an assist to turnover ratio of 1.88 (ranked third). Ranking 10th, the Detroit Pistons have an A/TO of 1.70.
The Detroit Pistons are one of the top rebounding teams in the league with an average of 45.2 per game (ranked fourth). The Atlanta Hawks are one of the worst rebounding teams with 40.5 rebounds per game (ranked 28th).
The Atlanta Hawks rank 30th in offensive rebounding, while the Detroit Pistons rank 16th in defensive rebounding.
Atlanta is one of the top teams in forced turnovers, with opponents averaging a TOV% of 15.9% (ranked fourth). Detroit has a poor record of 5-11 SU this season when its TOV% reaches 15.9% or greater.
