Three quick observations from Monday night’s 122-104 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena
BIG VOID – Missing arguably their two best players – No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham and leading scorer Jerami Grant – wasn’t the formula the Pistons required to break out of their early-season scoring doldrums. Averaging 85 points a game, last in the NBA, through two games the Pistons showed some flashes of improvement but again had too many unproductive stretches and too many costly turnovers against a Hawks team coming off a conference finals appearance. The Pistons were within seven late in the third quarter when Atlanta called timeout and responded with triples on consecutive possessions from bench players Cam Reddish, Lou Williams and Gorgui Dieng to balloon the lead to 16.