After five straight days off to rest up, the Detroit Pistons are the healthiest they have been all season with Tobias Harris coming off the injury report in recent days. Now with a deep bench, the Pistons stand 19-5 and are in first place of the Eastern Conference a quarter of the way through the regular season, but their greatest challenges still lie ahead. 

Right now, the Pistons only rank No. 23 in terms of strength of schedule according to ESPN, so most of the NBA’s toughest teams will be facing the Pistons for the first time in the near future. Still, Detroit has compiled a 5-0 record against the Western Conference, which includes a big win on the road against the Houston Rockets, and the Pistons cannot control which teams are next on the schedule. 

And to that degree, the Pistons were playing quality basketball, winning four of their past five, before the NBA Cup-induced break over the past week. The Pistons won two straight games at home that came back-to-back at the tail end of last week, a six point victory over the Blazers before Detroit topped the Bucks by 12 points a night later, so they were hot before this brief break.

Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham is delicately stringing together victory after victory for Detroit, a team that already has a 13-game winning streak under its belt this season. And with Cunningham running the show, the Pistons are back with a loaded bench and are prepared to take on the Atlanta Hawks tonight, a team that the Pistons are actually tied with at No. 23 for strength of schedule. 

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Injuries

As reported, the Pistons are healthy for the most part right now. Two-way big men Isaac Jones and Tolu Smith are both slated to be game-time decisions, but that is about it for the Detroit injury report.

As for the Hawks, at least three players have already been ruled out of Friday night’s affair. Atlanta will be missing two front court players as centers Kristaps Porzingis and N’Faly Dante due to an illness and concussion respectively, while guard Trae Young is still dealing with a knee issue that’s been hampering him for a while. Forward Jacob Toppin is also out for the season, but other than that the Hawks should be good to go. 

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Hawks News

Sitting at 14-11 on the season and in second place of the Southeast Division, the Hawks have produced a mixed bag of results this season. Over their last five games, the Hawks are only 2-3 in the timespan which is not too awful on the surface, but Atlanta sandwiched a three-game losing streak in between two victories. One of those losses was to the Pistons, a one-point win for the boys in blue and red. 

Like the Pistons, the Hawks have been out of action since last Saturday, so they’ll be well rested entering tonight’s matchup as well. Last time out, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead over the Washington Wizards before popping it into cruise control for a 131-116 win. Hawks forward Jalen Johnson continued to make his All-Star campaign more clear with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in what was his second consecutive triple-double with at least 20 points. So, Johnson is currently blossoming into a dominant player in the NBA before our eyes, and the Pistons will have the tough task of containing him tonight. Presumably, Ausar Thompson will see a heavy dose of Johnson when locking in on defense. 

The Hawks also run a lot of catch-and-shoot offense, and Atlanta currently ranks No. 4 in the NBA in terms of points that come off those actions. So, it will be important for the Pistons defense to stick with Atlanta during off-ball movements to help cut down on their opportunities to release open jumpers. 

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Player To Watch: Ausar Thompson

While he’s growing into his own as a ball handler who can initiate offense in the half-court, Thompson prides himself on his defensive tenacity, and he’s going to have a difficult assignment in Johnson tonight. During the Pistons’ most recent meeting with the Hawks, Thompson was locked onto Johnson for much of the first three quarters. Up to that point, Johnson only scored 8 points, but he went on to have a big fourth quarter and ended up contributing 29 points in Detroit’s narrow victory. 

Even though the Pistons have a deep bench tonight, Thompson is likely to play a lot since Detroit will need his disruptive defensive presence on the court all game long to shadow Johnson everywhere he goes. Stopping Johnson will be priority No. 1 for the Pistons on defense, so Ausar will be a crucial player that will help decide the outcome of tonight’s game. 

Prediction: Atlanta Hawks 121, Detroit Pistons 127

The Hawks have scored at least 130 points in five of their last seven games, but the problem is they have lost two of those contests, so they struggle to stop teams at a concerning rate. The Pistons have a top five defense in the league to potentially slow down the Hawks’ attack, and Detroit is as healthy as they have been all season right now. After five days off, look for the Pistons to come out ready to roll in front of their home crowd tonight. 

For more information on the latest Detroit Pistons team or player news, follow @EricJRutter on X for continued basketball coverage. Also be sure to look up Roundtable - Michigan Men Media on Facebook for continued social media coverage of all the sporting teams in the Mitten.