Atlanta Hawks dominated at home by Toronto Raptors, 105-80 (2/20/15)

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

In their first game after the NBA All-Star Break, the Atlanta Hawks produced a mundane performance and were defeated 105-80 at home by the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

The Hawks (43-12)shot a season-low 33 percent from the field. Atlanta attempted a season-high 38 three-pointer attempts, only making eight of them.

The loss snapped Atlanta’s 12-game home winning streak and only the team’s fourth defeat at Philips Arena this season. The Hawks also had a season-high 23 turnovers in the loss.

Paul Millsap, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague each had a team-high 11 points in the loss with each player struggling from the field. Korver had a particularly rough night on the floor, making only two out of 11 three-pointer attempts. Al Horford did grab a team-high 12 rebounds.

“You have to give Toronto a lot of credit,” Hawks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “They gave it to us good tonight. There were a lot of reasons we didn’t play well. Credit to them. We need to be better in a lot of different areas.”

Lou Williams scored a game-high 26 points off the bench for Toronto (37-17). Williams’ seven three-pointers were the most Atlanta has allowed an opponent all season. DeMar DeRozan (21 points), Amir Johnson (11 points) and Kyle Lowry (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Raptors who shot 44.8 percent from the field in the win. Jonas Valanciunas grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and scored eight points. Toronto hit 13 three-pointers and had 27 assists.

Both teams grabbed 52 rebounds which was a season-high for the Hawks.

Toronto started the contest on a 14-7 run with Derozen scoring eight of the Raptors’ points. The Hawks recovered and outscored the Raptors 19-12 to tie the score at 26-all heading into the second quarter.

The Raptors had another quick start to a quarter, going on a 8-2 run to start the second quarter and making the score 34-28. Both teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter and Toronto took a 49-45 lead into halftime.

Korver and Kent Bazemore each had a team-high 10 points for the Hawks. Horford grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Overall, the Hawks shot 38 percent from the field in the first half.

DeRozan scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Raptors in the first half. Williams scored 14 points off the bench for Toronto. Overall, the Raptors shot 44 percent in the first half.

Toronto outscored Atlanta 28-13 in the third quarter to take a 77-58 lead into the fourth quarter. It was the lowest point total for the Hawks in a third quarter this season and the second-lowest in any quarter.

The Raptors outscored the Hawks 28-22 in the third quarter to conclude the game.