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The skinny: The Hawks come in on a three-game losing streak and minus two key players, Marvin Williams and Josh Childress. Sound familiar? The Pistons beat Philadelphia minus Allen Iverson and Chris Webber on Tuesday, but got stung a week ago by New Orleans playing without Tyson Chandler and David West.. Joe Johnson, averaging 28 a game, has become a bona fide star. Athletic young Josh Smith, 6-foot-9, is a matchup nightmare for the Pistons. Speedy Claxton is playing abysmally since returning from injury, but Tyronn Lue comes off the bench for 30 minutes a night behind him at point guard and is playing the best basketball of his career – 14.4 points, five assists, one turnover. Zaza Pachulia is outperforming many other more heralded European big men.

What to watch: The Pistons play a league-high 22 back-to-backs and this will be the third time already this season that they’ll be playing the back end against a team that got the benefit of resting the night before. Because Philadelphia didn’t roll over, the Pistons had to extend their core starters – Rip Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace played 35 to 39 minutes apiece in Tuesday’s road win. It will be critical for the Pistons to get off to a good start so Saunders can give the starters first-half rest.

stop JJ and we win

Easier said than done.

Hawks-Pistons Preview

When the Atlanta Hawks started a surprising 4-1 and the Detroit Pistons struggled to begin the year, it raised a few eyebrows.

Although the Hawks appear improved over recent seasons, the Pistons have begun to resemble a team that won the 2004 NBA title and won a franchise-record 64 games last year.

The teams meet Wednesday at the Palace in Auburn Hills, with Detroit looking to take advantage of Atlanta once again.

The Pistons have dominated the Hawks lately. They've won six of the last seven meetings and 22 of the past 28 since the start of the 1999-2000 season.

Detroit beat Philadelphia 97-87 on Tuesday for its third win in a row. That bumped the Pistons (6-5) above .500 for the first time since Nov. 4, when they were 2-1.

Rasheed Wallace had 21 and 11 rebounds while Tayshaun Prince scored 25 points for Detroit, which shot 50 percent from the floor.

``We're starting to get better and that's all we can ask is that we try to get better every single night,'' said Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups, who had 11 points and 11 assists. ``Our effort is there every single night now and we're picking up our defensive intensity.''

Wallace recorded his third straight double-double and blocked three shots for the fourth game in a row. He's averaged 14.4 points and 6.4 rebounds in 23 career games against the Hawks, the team he spent one game with during the 2003-04 season before he was traded to Detroit.

``I think he's getting in better shape,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said about Wallace. ``He's got a good focus right now, doing it all - rebounding, blocking shots. Defensively, we're getting better contesting shots. He's getting comfortable and they're all getting comfortable playing together.''

Atlanta (4-4), however, has lost three straight, tempering expectations for a team that went 26-56 in 2005-06. The Hawks had won four straight to get three games above .500 for the first time since finishing the lockout-shortened 1999 season 31-19.

The three losses all came at home by a combined eight points. Atlanta lost twice in overtime and once by two points in regulation.

``We've got to keep working hard, but it's hard when guys don't come out ready to play,'' Hawks guard Joe Johnson said after Atlanta lost 93-88 to Miami in overtime Saturday. ``That hurt us tonight. That hurt us the last few ballgames. It's going to keep hurting us if we don't do anything about it.''

Johnson was held to 22 points, the first time all season he hadn't scored at least 25. He's averaged only 11.8 points in 12 career games against the Pistons, although he had 29 and scored the game-winning basket Feb. 7 in a 99-98 win over Detroit, the Hawks' lone win against the Pistons in the last two calendar years.

The Hawks are looking for their third straight road victory, something they haven't done since winning three in a row from Dec. 15-26, 2000.

Atlanta was 12-70 away from home the last two seasons.

We win 105-87

Nice game by the boys. There were no big leads. We caused some TOs and turned them into points. CBill with a nice game for sure.

Rasheed had a nice game as well, and the others had their moments. Delfino and Dice were decent off the bench. FlipM got owned defensively when he was in the game. Nazr played ok, but was a foul machine.

I think Nazr is a foul machine because the others are used to having somebody there to clean up their messes. Nazr isn't Ben (who is?), so he's forced to foul or let opposing players make bunnies or convert dunks. He just needs to start picking his spots better and recognizing which shots are blockable and which aren't. He should try getting in position more often to take charges.

I think Nazr is a foul machine because the others are used to having somebody there to clean up their messes. Nazr isn't Ben (who is?), so he's forced to foul or let opposing players make bunnies or convert dunks. He just needs to start picking his spots better and recognizing which shots are blockable and which aren't. He should try getting in position more often to take charges.

Great point.

:sas:

i'd believe that if he wasn't a foul machine from the jump and had a rep as one. he gets one on one fouls too, just fouls alot.