The Atlanta Hawks (17-20) returned Thursday night with an important Eastern Conference game against the Toronto Raptors (17-20) of the All-Star Break. The birds of prey entered at No. 8 spot in the East position in the second “half” of this COVID shortened season; Atlanta entered at 11.
The Raptors have been missing a number of players, including OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw. This required the Raptors to start former Falcons guard DeAndre ‘Bembry. The Hawks listed Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter and Kris Dunn on the injury report for tonight’s game.
The Falcons managed to steal a win in this roller coaster game against the exhausted Raptors. Despite rising as much as 19 points in the second quarter, they find themselves in a 15-point hole in the fourth quarter. But a hard sixth last six minutes led to a try that Tony Snell won.
The Hawks started the first quarter with a 7-0 run, as it looks like Toronto can’t resist. The Raptors also could not find any rhythm offensively as they went 2/12 (16%) off the field in the first five minutes of the game.
Trae Young appeared in an aggressive manner. He missed some deep three-pointers early on, but nailed this when the defense fell and left him with too much time and space.
The Raptors eventually found an offensive flow and managed to reduce the lead to 20-15. But Atlanta remained strong and kept their foot on fire by winning the offense and winning the last five minutes 17-11.
It was beautiful.
Atlanta led 37-26 in the second quarter. They shot 15/29 (51.7%) on the Raptors’ abysmal 7/23 (30.4%) in the quarter. Young led the Hawks by 11 points, with Norman Powell throwing in 12 points for the opposition.
The Hawks started the second quarter with a strong shot and passed on four of the first five offensive possessions. Including this jam from the young Falcons newcomer, Onyeka Okongwu.
However, they could not stop enough to extend their lead even further. After a 10-0 run from Toronto, Atlanta took the same lead of 11 points to a timeout at the point 7:16.
It got worse for the Falcons as they scored only two points from the seven minutes to the five minutes. The Raptors ran 18-4 in the middle of the quarter to reduce the Hawks’ lead to 51-47 with four minutes left.
The two teams mostly swapped the last four minutes of the half buckets. Here’s a beautiful John Collins jumper, even if it’s an indication of the type of offense the Hawks showed in the second half.
The Falcons led the first half by just five points at 64-59, after leading by as many as 19 points at the start of the second quarter. Young led the scorers by 20 points, including nine points from the free throw line (9/12). Clint Capela contributed in his unique way with 12 rebounds and four blocks. The Hawks shot only 35% (7/20) in the second quarter, while the Raptors shot with 54% (13/24). Almost a complete script of the first term.
The second half started well for the Raptors when they tied the game at 73:19, which evaporated the Falcons’ lead in the second quarter. The Raptors ran 14-5 after the Hawks took a nine-point lead at 68-59.
Once again, the two teams traded baskets throughout the middle of the quarter, and neither side could really prevail. But that changed in the final three minutes of the period as the Raptors extended a seven-point lead to an 8-1 run from the 3:56 mark.
The Raptors put it 94-84 to ten points by the end of the third quarter. The Hawks shooting in the second quarter did not improve as they shot 6/19 (31.5%) in the third quarter. The Raptors meanwhile continued their hot shooting and 13/24 (54.1%, again).
Each team started the fourth quarter, but the Raptors were more powerful. Atlanta first managed a 7-0 run to reduce the lead to 96-91. But Toronto responded with their own 8-0 run to take the lead back to 13, 104-91.
A 12-0 run from Atlanta starting with six minutes left in the fourth quarter put the Falcons inside 112-109 on the scoreboard of 2:25. The run was fueled by these deep tries from Young.
Chris Boucher hit two free throws to break the Raptors drought and put them ahead 114-109.
It was an absolute struggle from this stage. The Falcons got closer and closer with difficult buckets like this hint in (yes, fee in) from Young on a Collins fog in transition.
It was a two-point game in favor of the Raptors at 120-118 with 26.9 seconds left. After an unfortunate bounce from Collins’ hands led to another offensive opportunity for the Raptors, the Falcons got stuck when Bembry missed a tough fading driver in the lane.
With 7.1 seconds left in the game, the Falcons dropped the ball by two points. Huerter climbed to Young who penetrated the track and kicked it out to Tony “Cheat Code” Snell for the tries that won the game.
The Falcons, who led by as many as 19 and were 15 behind in the fourth quarter, came back for the hard-fought victory over their rivals in the Eastern Conference, 121-120.
Young led all the scorers with 37 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Huerter also bagged 19 points (12 points in the fourth quarter), and Capela contributed 18 rebounds. Atlanta shot 43.3% for the game and 50.0% (11/22) in the last frame. The Hawks won the fourth quarter 37-26.