Pistons vs Hawks final score: Trae hits game-winner to beat Detroit

Trae Young closed it out late to stop Atlanta’s losing streak.

Trae Young got a bit of revenge. Days after Cade Cunningham was named to the All-Star game over Young, Trae hit a game-winning 20-foot jumper with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the Hawks the win over the Pistons, 132-130. The loss snapped Detroit’s two-game winning streak and also ended Atlanta’s eight-game losing streak.

It was expected that Atlanta would be extra motivated for this one – things have been much brighter for the Pistons lately, and the Hawks had lost eight straight games before tonight’s game. It proved to be enough motivation for Trae Young who was able to hit the game-winning jump shot tonight with a second left to beat Detroit in Little Caesar’s Arena.

It was a dunk-fest early – the Pistons’ first five field goals were all dunks. The majority of those came from Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson as Cade was carving up Atlanta’s defense and finding his open teammates. Eight players scored in the first for Detroit, and Cade led the way with five points and seven assists. There wasn’t a lot of defense to be found for either team as the Pistons took a 35-34 lead after the first 12 minutes. Trae Young and De’Andre Hunter combined for 20 points and four threes for Atlanta.

Detroit looked a little lethargic in the second. The defense didn’t improve, and the offense got worse. The Pistons somehow went more than eight minutes without a field goal. When they had a 42-38 lead, the Hawks went on a 29-12 run before Detroit finally made a basket again. Atlanta took a 73-64 halftime lead over Detroit.

The Pistons were shooting well from the field (55%), but Atlanta made nine threes while Detroit only attempted nine. Each team had their own trio of leading scorers: Beasley (12), Harris (12), and Cunningham (11) for Detroit, and Hunter (15), Young, (15), and Daniels (13) for Atlanta.

Cade and Co. were able to claw back in the third quarter as Detroit cut Atlanta’s deficit to four. Cunningham was struggling to find his shot, but he continued to slice up the Hawks’ defense with his passing, specifically to Malik Beasley for threes and Jalen Duren for lobs.

When Cade was subbed out with 1:17 left in the third, Atlanta had a 101-95 lead. The Hawks went on a 12-6 run, and JB Bickerstaff quickly brought Deuce back with nine-and-a-half minutes left in the game while Detroit was losing 113-101. After he hit a three and an and-one on consecutive possessions, Tobias Harris stole a Trae Young pass and found Ausar Thompson for an alley-oop in transition to bring the deficit to two.

Trae missed the second of two free throws with 30 seconds left and we saw JB Bickerstaff call a timeout to draw up a play with Detroit still down two. It was basically the same play as earlier this year where Cade iso’d Dyson Daniels for a layup, and it worked again – Cunningham tied the game at 130.

Atlanta’s next possession saw Trae Young force a switch to get Ausar Thompson off him to instead be guarded by Malik Beasley. Malik played great one-on-one defense, but Young hit a rainbow step back jumper to take a two-point lead with 1.6 seconds left. Cade tried finding Tobias for a layup to tie the game at the buzzer, but the pass didn’t connect and the Pistons lost 132-130.

Both teams shot the same percentage from the field, but Atlanta was 16/37 (43%) from three while Detroit was 9/27 (33%). Cade finished with 30 points and 14 assists. Tobias added 22 points while Duren and Beasley both added 18. Trae Young had 34 points and 9 assists for Atlanta. I could complain that he had 14 free throw attempts, but Cade went 13-for-13 from the line so it was nice to see Cunningham finally get a whistle.

Detroit moves to back to .500 at 25-25. The Pistons play next on Wednesday night when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers .