Pistons Surprise Hawks In Season Opener Win

The Atlanta Hawks were an up-and-coming dominant force in the NBA last year but came up short in the Eastern Conference Finals losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers despite a 60-22 regular season team record. In their season opener last night, the high regard with the Hawks came up short last night as they were commanded over by the Detroit Pistons in a 106-94 defeat.

Pistons BEAT Hawks In Season Opener Win

Pistons center Andre Drummond destroyed the boards with 19 rebounds while guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the team in scoring with 21 points. The Pistons were starting to pull away from the Hawks before halftime and had a 19-point deficit at one point leaving the Hawks no room to have a comeback for the rest of the game. “They were very good tonight. We weren’t,” Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We get to go to work tomorrow.” The Pistons on the other hand finished in last place with 28 games behind the Hawks last year and head coach Stan Van Gundy looks to turn this around for the future since being hired as not only coach but president of basketball operations.

Up next on the schedule for both teams see the Pistons going home to host the Utah Jazz Wednesday night while the Hawks have a day off before traveling to New York to face off with the Knicks.

Photo: ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 27: Andre Drummond #0 of the Detroit Pistons shoots over Thabo Sefolosha #25 of the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on October 27, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)