Toronto Raptors lose at home to Atlanta Hawks, 96 – 78
The Atlanta Hawks trounced the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, 96-78. Some 17,302 cheerful fans witnessed the Hawks’ 11th victory of the season. It is Hawks third straight win after losing seven of the previous
nine.
High–Flying Players
Five Hawks players scored in double figures, including Josh Smith’s third career triple-double. Overall he finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Marvin Williams played one of his best games in Hawks’ uniform, posting a team high
17 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson and Al Horford scored 16 points apiece and Jamal Crawford had 10. Mike Bibby scored 9 points and was the only Atlanta starter not to reach double figures.
Only two players from the Raptors scored points in double figures, consisting of a team high 14 off the bench from Andrea Bargnani. DeMar DeRozan contributed 13 points and 6 six rebounds for Raptors in the loss.
First Quarter
The Hawks hit 50 percent of their first-quarter field goals, led by eight points from Horford, and lead the Raptors 27 – 23.
Hawks’ biggest lead of the quarter was 4 points.
From the Raptors, who were hitting 50 percent from the field and playing decent defense, the leading scorer was Bargnani with 9 points.
Second Quarter
The Hawks limited the Raptors to 23 points in the third quarter.
Leandro Barbosa’s alley-oop put Toronto up 38-36 with 6:40 left in the second quarter, but Atlanta responded with an 11-2 run over in the next three minutes, including 5 points from Johnson, to take a 52-46 lead at the intermission.
Third Quarter
Atlanta outscored the Raptors 25-11 to take a 77-57 lead heading in to the fourth quarter. The Raptors, on the other hand, did not help themselves as they shot a miserable 3 for 17. Toronto also had six of their 15 turnovers in the third
as the Hawks almost blew the game open.
Fourth Quarter
Raptors tried to make a comeback into the game and scored 21 points by limiting Hawks to 19 points, but the Hawks were already leading by a huge margin of 20 points.
Atlanta finished 8 of 18 from 3-point range, while the Raptors made just 1 of 12.
Johnson took the pressure off with a layup that put the Hawks up 92-69, their biggest lead of the game.
Turning Point
Leading by six at the half, the Hawks outscored the Toronto, 25-11 in the third quarter, to take a 20-point lead going into the fourth and did not look back.
Quotable
Josh Smith was pleased on getting the final assist to complete the triple-double, "When it was coming down to it I was like, 'Man, I'm not going to get it, I'm not going to get it,’ We ran a couple of plays for me to try
to get the assist. I'd like to thank coach Larry Drew for leaving me in and being able to give me an opportunity to get the assist...we have something special in this locker room. Everybody is unselfish and you can see it out there on the court. When we play
the right way it’s beautiful basketball and it’s fun to watch."
“We did a good job executing in that third quarter,” “We got out and started running and we got a few stops and it seemed like it just opened the game up.” Hawks coach Larry Drew said.
Up Next
The Toronto Raptors look to avoid their third straight loss when they travel to Air Canada Centre, Toronto, to take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, December 1, 2010.
The sizzling Atlanta Hawks will shoot for their fourth consecutive win when they renew their storied rivalry with the Memphis Grizzlies in the Philips Arena, on Wednesday, December 1, 2010.
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