ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks had no answer for center Andre Drummond inside or guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope outside as the Detroit Pistons got their season off to a winning start.
Drummond had 18 points and 19 rebounds, while Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers en route to scoring 21 points as Pistons defeated the Hawks 106-94 Tuesday night in the opener for both teams.
Forward Marcus Morris scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and forward Ersan Ilyasova added 16 points. Both were making their Pistons debuts. Detroit guard Reggie Jackson contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Guard Dennis Schroder came off the bench to lead the Hawks with 20 points. Forward Paul Millsap had 19 points and eight rebounds, and guard Jeff Teague scored 18 points.
The Pistons got off to a 5-23 start last season as they missed the playoff yet again, while the Hawks set a franchise record with 60 regular-season victories and made the Eastern Conference finals.
Detroit scored the first eight points of the second half, completing a 12-0 run, and built its lead to 69-51 with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter as Caldwell-Pope had nine points in the spurt.
The Pistons led 82-66 going into the fourth quarter after getting 11 points and six rebounds from Drummond in Detroit’s 34-point third period.
The Hawks climbed within 96-88 with two minutes remaining but could get no closer.
The Pistons made seven of their first 10 shots to build a 20-10 lead, but the Hawks scored the last nine points of the first quarter to tie it 25-25 and then stretched their run to 14-0 with the first five points of the second.
Detroit regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Caldwell-Pope with about three minutes left in the second quarter and used a closing 14-4 run for a 48-43 lead at halftime.
NOTES: The Pistons were without F Anthony Tolliver, who returned to Detroit to be with his wife, who gave birth to a daughter early Tuesday. … G Tim Hardaway Jr. was inactive for the Hawks despite averaging 21 points against the Pistons last season with the New York Knicks. … Hawks F Thabo Sefolosha, acquitted of misdemeanor charges recently, said he will file a civil lawsuit against New York City police for the injuries that ended the 2014-15 season in April. … The Hawks picked up the contract options of G Dennis Schroder and Hardaway. … G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who strained his left foot in a preseason game, was in the Pistons’ opening lineup. … Pistons G Brandon Jennings (ruptured Achilles) isn’t expected to be ready to play until December. … The Pistons have their home opener Wednesday against Utah. … The Hawks sold out their home opener for the fourth straight year.