“And a Child From Georgia Shall Lead Them…” Stan 12:22

Even after all the good tidings and cheer of the past several weeks, the Atlanta Hawks can only boast of having the second-most joyous fanbase in all the NBA right now.

Their hosts tonight, the Detroit Pistons (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Fox Sports Detroit) have rattled off seven impressive victories in a row. None of their victories before Christmastime, when the Pistons were 5-23 and pushing the Sixers for the league’s cellar-dwelling spot, were by double-digits. Six of their last seven wins have been by 10 or more points, the exception being a thrilling last-second comeback over the defending NBA champs in San Antonio. And who would’ve guessed a key difference-maker for Detroit would not be a guy from Collipark, but from the opposite end of the Atlanta ‘burbs?

The Pride of Norcross High, Jodie Meeks raised eyebrows and cackles as one of the first signings of the 2014 free agent summer, parlaying a D’Antoni-fueled breakout season into a contract for $19 million guaranteed spread out over three years. Meeks then had to shut things down early in the preseason due to a back injury, missing most of the fustercluck that ensued over the next two months and leaving the Pistons to turn to Kyle Singler as their sole reliable perimeter shooting threat (emphasis on “reliable.” I’m terribly sorry, Cartier Martin).

Detroit prevailed in their first two games once Meeks returned, only to slide back toward the abyss with four consecutive losses. Pistons GM/Head Coach Stan Van Gundy was faced with some dilemmas. How could he get Meeks going in an offense where one or two guys persistently dominate the ball? At the same time, how could he rekindle the spirits of frontcourt bookends Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, former franchise faces that seemed to be flaming out? How could he awaken a once-proud Piston fanbase that only fills up 62 percent of their Palace at Auburn Hills, the lowest mark by far in the league, just six seasons removed from season-long sellouts?

To begin solving those issues, Van Gundy made his next big maneuver, a very expensive one. And by all measures, it was a masterstroke, one that suddenly places SVG squarely in the running for this year’s We Know We Can’t Give It to Danny Ferry So Here’s Your Executive of the Year Award.

Most everyone with a conscience sensed the pairing of the Pistons and Mr. Smith would work out not much longer than Andi and That Other Josh. Still, no one expected that Stan would dare push that Un-Dumars button in the middle of the season. And not many anticipated that the residual set of Piston players would prove themselves to be competent, much less competitive, never mind occasionally dominant.

Suddenly, reserve guard Meeks (13.8 PPG, 3^rd on the team; 47.1 3FG%) is going 9-for-11 on threes against the Magic. Suddenly, leading scorer Monroe is giving them 27-and-18 against the Mavs in Dallas, followed in scoring by backup guard D.J. Augustin’s 26. Suddenly, Drummond is playing defense again, blocking 5 shots in Cleveland followed by back-to-back 20-plus rebounding efforts. Suddenly, Brandon Jennings isn’t playing like he’s starring on the AND1 Mixtape Tour, putting 35 points up on the Kings before driving for the game-winning layup to upend the Spurs in their house.

The Pistons (12-23, 2.5 games behind the 8-seed in East) are now spacing the floor, swinging the ball around to one another, sharing floor time, making big buckets, forming bleeping walls, high-fiving, smiling, cheering, hugging, dancing. Pistons fans are shattering long-dormant local TV ratings. And it took one Smoove Move out of the Great Lakes State to break open the dam. They were once painfully predictable in their overreliance on a couple flawed players, and now? “Everybody puts in a contribution,” Van Gundy says, “and that’s why we are playing well right now.”

Just about every analysis of the Pistons has to be measured in the “A.J.” (After Josh) era. You could also do like Bob Rathbun and euphemistically refer to this phase as the “A.T.” era. That’s because SVG also swapped second-year forward Tony Mitchell to Phoenix for Anthony Tolliver, illustrating that Van Gundy’s issue wasn’t so much about power forwards jacking threes as it was the individual who was doing it with impunity.

Since directing Mr. Smith to make like Eminem and Lose Himself, Detroit leads the East with 107.9 PPG and 40.7 3FG%. On the other end of the floor, the A.J. Pistons led the conference with 36.3 defensive RPG, and their 9.9 SPG ranked behind only the pick-pocketing Hawks (11.1 SPG, thanks to 17 steals against usually-stingy Memphis) and the Bucks. They’re also defending the perimeter well, opponents hitting threes at just a 30.5 3FG% clip (20.9% from the corners) while scoring just 92.9 PPG (3^rd fewest in NBA).

Van Gundy has been keeping Jennings’ floor time short (career-low 28.4 minutes per game; under 31 minutes in each of last 15 games) in hopes of getting more efficient performances out of his 25-year-old lead guard. Jennings had just 9 points on 2-for-6 shooting, two assists and four turnovers before hyperextending his thumb in the third quarter of Detroit’s 99-89 loss in Atlanta last November. The injury caused him to miss three games, including two losses against Milwaukee, his former team. Since he last played Atlanta, Jennings has committed more than three turnovers in just one game, and on no occasions in his last 15 games.

Augustin (4-for-17 shooting vs. Atlanta in November) was no less erratic, as the point guard pair shot a combined 1-for-10 on three-pointers against the Hawks while leaving the passing duties mostly to Smith (team-high 5 of Detroit’s paltry 12 assists). But the Pistons drew enough personal fouls and made the most of their trips to the line (23-for-24 FTs; leading scorer Smith had no attempts) to whittle away Atlanta’s 19-point lead by the early part of the final quarter.

But as demonstrated in Wednesday’s win over Memphis, the Hawks showed confidence and poise, trusting that their offense will arrive in bigger waves than their opponents. That was no different as Atlanta closed out the fourth quarter against Detroit in November with a 25-15 run. Piston guards could only watch as Jeff Teague had his way with a season-high 28 points (12 in the paint, 8-for-8 FTs) along with 6 assists. Following two disappointing losses, the Hawks showed themselves that good defense (37.3 Piston FG%, 19.0 3FG%) and ball control can overwhelm opponents enough to offset a bad long-range shooting day (20.8 3FG%). Atlanta (27-8, 2.5 games ahead of Chicago atop the East) rose above .500 for probably the final time this season, and hasn’t dropped two-in-a-row since.

While much was ballyhooed about his three-point shooting, Smith’s 40.7 2FG% (a team-high 25.8% of attempts being long-twos) sunk the Pistons to 29^th in the league in two-point accuracy (45.8 team 2FG%), a crying shame on a team with talents like Drummond and Monroe. The team’s effective field goal shooting was dead-last in the league (45.8 eFG%) with Smith; the “A.J.” era Pistons rank 3rd with 54.5 eFG%. With the floor better spread now, Drummond must continue to roll to the basket and Jennings and Monroe must cut to the rim without the ball, trusting their teammates to reward them.

While his younger brother makes news for the wrong reasons down in Gainesville, Michigan native Al Horford has a chance to be the Local Boy Makes Good story of the day. Against Detroit’s huddled frontline in November, Horford tallied just two rebounds in 32 minutes, but plopped-and-fizzed his way to 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including a halftime buzzer-beater and a layup to seize the lead for good in the fourth quarter. After struggling with his shot against Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies until the final quarter on Wednesday, Horford can pile up points at the Palace tonight by beating Drummond down the floor in transition.

While the A.J. Pistons are 2^nd in the league in three-point accuracy over their last seven games, most of that has come from Jennings (2.6 3FGs per game, 42.9 3FG%) and Meeks, whose 2.9 threes per game since cutting Smith loose (58.8 3FG%) are as many as Kyle Korver’s (41.7 3FG% in that span). Starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has shot just 9-for-28 on threes in that time, starting small forward Kyle Singler 6-for-20, and the remaining cast (Caron Butler, Jonas Jerebko, Tolliver, Augustin) haven’t been much better (26-for-70). Even Meeks has cooled off a bit (7-for-17) in his past four games.

That will make team rebounding important for the Hawks, particularly as Horford and Paul Millsap vie to keep Monroe (4.0 O-Rebs per game post-Smith, 3.0 on the season) and Drummond (NBA-high 5.6 per game post-Smith, 5.0 on the season) away from the offensive glass. Despite Drummond (16 rebounds, 7 offensive), Atlanta posted a 74.5 defensive rebounding percentage against Detroit in November, and are 15-2 when their D-Reb% is 75% or higher. Atlanta is also 23-2 when opponents’ effective field goal percentages fall below 52.5%. Horford will have adequate reinforcements at center with Pero Antić, whose 13 points against Memphis matched his season-high from two days before, and Elton Brand, who returns from bereavement leave.

Both the Hawks and Pistons have been feasting lately on teams that seem to under-scout and underestimate them. Atlanta would be making a mistake by looking past the Pistons ahead of a Sunday afternoon home game versus division-rival Washington. Securing their team-record eighth-consecutive road win against a rejuvenated Detroit squad before a reenergized crowd would be the most impressive victory ever by a conference leader against a 12-23 opponent.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3