Toronto Raptors continue to ride hot; crush the Atlanta Hawks 102-86: NBA Recap
On Sunday night at the Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA, the visiting Toronto Raptors ran riot over the Atlanta Hawks 102-86. This was the second win for the Raptors in as many games against teams who will be featuring in the play-offs.
They Raps surprised the Boston Celtics just two nights ago.
The Hawks, who still can rise up to the third spot in the Eastern Conference, suffered a setback in their chances as they fell three games behind the Indiana Pacers, after this loss.
DeMar DeRozan led the scoring for the Raptors with 23 points. Alan Anderson added 16 points, which included 3 triples. Ben Uzoh contributed 10 points in the game. James Johnson came off the bench to score all of his 15 points in
the fourth quarter. Ed Davis and Justin Dentmon also came off the bench to add 10 points each, as 6 players for the Raptors, ended the game scoring in double-figures.
For the Hawks, Josh Smith was the leading scorer with 26 points. Ivan Johnson and Willie Green came off the bench to score 14 points each. It was an overall poor showing from the rest of the Hawks roster as they all combined together
for 32 points, with none of them getting more then 8 points individually.
The Raptors were able to score at free-will for most part of the game as they bossed their way around inside the paint. They outscored Atlanta, 46-28 from inside the key.
Raptors came out of the blocks early as they started the match on a 5-0 run. Atlanta did manage to make it a close contest as they were behind 9-10 with 7:13 to go in the opening period. In the next several minutes though, Toronto
went on an 11-2 run to take a 21-11 lead. However the Hawks responded back with a 12-4 run to close out the opening period trailing by only 2 points.
In the second quarter, Atlanta, were able make the score level on their first possession. Both teams went head to head for the next several minutes with Toronto holding a minor 3 point advantage with 7:32 to go in the half.
The Raptors scored 6 quick unanswered points to extend their advantage to 8 with 5:42 remaining. For the remaining 5 and a half minutes, Toronto were able to add 15 more points to their account while allowing the Hawks to only
score 9. During this span, Toronto closed the half out on a 12-2 run leading by a score line of 53-39 at the half way mark.
In the second half, Hawks looked to rally their way back into the contest as they started off the third quarter on a 15-6 run to make this a two possession game with 6:29 remaining.
Toronto put an end to the Hawks run, responding with 7 quick points of their own to extend their advantage back to double-figures. Raptors closed out the third quarter ahead by 9 points.
The lead was extended back to double figures very early in the fourth quarter and was further extended to as much as 24 points with 4:22 remaining to the final buzzer. In the last 4 minutes, Hawks did outscore the Raptors 16-8
but the ample advantage the visitors had proved to be insurmountable in the end.
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