Game 17: Atlanta Hawks @ Detroit Pistons [Game Thread]

NBA Regular Season Game  17
	@
12-4 (5-3 away)		5-11 (3-4 home)
Palace of Auburn Hills Hawks Blog:  Peachtree Hoops
November 29, 2009  1:00 PM ET
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Fan
Probable starters:
Mike Bibby	PG	Chucky Atkins
Joe Johnson	SG	Rodney Stuckey
Marvin Williams	SF	Jonas Jerebko
Josh Smith	PF	Jason Maxiell
Al Horford	C	Ben Wallace

The Hawks on an early Sunday afternoon is not the team Detroit wants to be staring at in the thick of a seven game losing streak.  Unfortunately, the up and coming, 12-4 Hawks, are exactly who the Pistons have to face at 1 PM EST on Sunday. 

The Pistons will be facing a lineup that has been together for a few years now, and are just starting to reap the benefits of that, with a completely different lineup themselves.  

According to Coach John Kuester:

"We’ve been on a streak that we’re not comfortable with … you’ve got to make some adjustments."

That lineup, according to the Detroit News, is as I've put it above.  That means, as you can tell, Charlie Villanueva will be coming off the bench for the first time this season.  

For the Pistons it's really not a question of effort, as it's clearly there, but more of an issue of how to get this team to click as a unit.  It seems that one or two quarters they completely fall flat on their faces and that serves as the back breaker for them.  They need to somehow find a lineup and rotation that is able to click for 48 minutes. 

And that's extra hard to do when they are continuously without two or three of their normal starting pieces.  Richard Hamilton will be out again today and hasn't played since the opener.  Tayshaun Prince hasn't played since the first few games and Ben Gordon will miss his second consecutive game with an injured ankle.  While this is giving added experience for the young guys, we're not seeing the Pistons lineup that many of us thought would surprise critics this season.  Until we see that, any pre-season predictions or expectations go right out the window and we can only hope we see continued improvement from some of the lesser experienced players on this team.  Ultimately, and ideally, this team will start to gel and pick up wins when it matters most.  Hopefully, not when it's too late.

Tip off is at 1 PM EST.  No Lions today, not that that'd change your plans, but you should be able to direct all your attention to the Pistons pulling off a nice, surprising win against a quality Hawks team today.