With Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose missing the middle game of a stretch of three games in four nights for the Detroit Pistons, it was a good opportunity for coach Dwane Casey to work on some different lineup variations. That included giving the young players an extended look to see how they’d fare with extended minutes.
It also meant getting to see more from rookies Killian Hayes, Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart.
The shorthanded Pistons stayed close in the first half, but couldn’t stop the Atlanta Hawks, who took a 128-120 victory on Monday night at State Farm Arena.
Bey got a surprise start and Stewart was energetic and active in his longest appearance of the season. Hayes was tasked with defending the Hawks’ Trae Young.
Hayes finished with a season-best 10 points and eight assists, Bey added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Stewart a workmanlike two points and eight rebounds in 14 minutes. Josh Jackson and Jerami Grant led the Pistons (0-3) with 27 points each.
Lacking their two main scorers, the Pistons had to find other sources for scoring, and leaned on Jackson, who has been one of the more efficient scorers off the bench. Jackson got his first start of the season and had good production: 11-of-19 from the field and 3-of-7 on 3-pointers.
The Hawks (3-0) looked to have the game in hand a few minutes into the fourth quarter, after a 15-4 run, with John Collins scoring six points during the spurt, capped by a floater from Bogdan Bogdanovic and a jumper by Rajon Rondo for a 115-94 lead.
The Pistons answered with three straight 3-pointers, by Wright, Hayes and Jackson, starting a 15-0 run to get within single digits. They pulled closer with 2:21 left, after Grant hit a 3-pointer and Mason Plumlee (nine points and six rebounds) was fouled and hit the free throw to trim the lead to 119-112.
Young (29 points) created some cushion with a 3-pointer, but the Pistons continued their surge, with a lob from Hayes to Plumlee and a 3-pointer from Grant, making it a 122-117 deficit at the 1:05 mark. The Pistons had another chance to cut into the lead, but had a turnover, and Collins added a pair of free throws.
Jackson hit a late 3-pointer but Young made all four of his free throws down the stretch.
