Joe Johnson drains 30 as Atlanta Hawks humble Toronto Raptors 100-77 - NBA Recap
On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks routed the Toronto Raptors at their home 100-77, to improve their record to 16-6 in the condensed NBA season and once again it was guard Joe Johnson, who guided the Hawks to a win.
Johnson was outstanding and matching the season-high, he paced the Hawks with 30 points on 13-for-18 from the floor and 3-for-5 from downtown. He was hot right from the beginning and although he only played for 30 minutes tonight,
in that time, he had already taken his team to a winning position.
"That's the type of player he is," Teammate Tracy McGrady said of Johnson, who made 13 of his 18 field-goal attempts. "Once he gets that feeling, he can run off 10 or 12 points in a hurry."
McGrady himself was impressive and finished with 15 points on a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe. Marvin Williams and Jeff Teague both bundled 10 points apiece.
Jerryd Bayless led the Raptors with 14 points on an erratic 4-for-11 from the floor while the reserve Ed Davis completed a double-double with 11 points on an accurate 3 for 3 from the charity stripe and 11 boards.
Raptors struggled with their shooting throughout and finished with a meagre 37% from the floor in contrast to a healthy 51.2% from the Hawks. Raptors also committed too many (19) turnovers in the game which made things worse for
them.
Second quarter of the game is what decided its fate.
Raptors finished the first frame with a 5 point deficit 18-23, but by no means were out of the game. A good second quarter is all they required to get in command, but what happened was the complete opposite.
Raptors kept it tight in the first 6 minutes of the frame and did everything according to the script, behind by only 2 points 31-33, however in the next 6 minutes, they froze completely, allowing Hawks to finish the frame with
a game deciding 23-6 spurt, capped by Johnson’s downtown strike, that pushed the Raptors miles away from the game.
"That second quarter was big," McGrady said. "It gave us a little extra room to breathe and it was because of (Johnson). He was on fire and we just kept feeding him."
Raptors succumbed to the pressure and failed to make any sort of a comeback in the second half of the game. They were never able to string some points together and trouble the Hawks, who cruised home with ease. Ed Davis netted
two from the free throw line just before the buzzer, however those two points were completely worthless as the Raptors still lost the game by 23 points.
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