TORONTO -- The Atlanta Hawks turned the tables on the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, holding on for a 125-121 victory.

The Hawks had lost to the Raptors 128-84 on Dec. 3, also at the Air Canada Centre. The 44-point winning margin was the largest in Raptors' team history.

It was different on Friday, with Dwight Howard leading the way with 27 points and 15 rebounds as he surpassed 16,000 career points in the NBA during the second quarter. He also earned his 17th double-double of the season.

"Our energy was a lot better," Howard said. "We locked in on defense and we forced some of the guys on their team to take tough shots. Last game they just got any shot they wanted. We did a better job. The one thing we can learn from tonight, if we play with this type of energy we should win."

The Hawks (13-13) have had a tough stretch since opening the season at 9-2.

With their win Friday, the Hawks stopped the Raptors' four-game winning streak. The Raptors (18-8) have won 10 of their past 12 games.

"We scored enough points, 121 points, shooting 54 percent, 47 percent from the 3," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where our problem is. They shoot 53 percent and 44 percent, got outrebounded 44-28, we didn't set the tone until the second half."

The Hawks shot 53.5 percent from the field while the Raptors shot 54.7 percent, including 76.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

"I thought the first half was very, very good," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "In the second half, at the end of the game, they get 39 in the fourth quarter but we're kind of trying to hold the lead, and take away the 3-point line. So, the first half I thought the defense was very good, there's maybe some slippage in the second but any time you can come in here and get a win, you are doing something on both ends of the court."

Dennis Schroder added 24 points, Kyle Korver had 19 off the bench, while Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. contributed 14 points each and Malcolm Delaney chipped in with 10 for Atlanta.

DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 34 points and Kyle Lowry scored 27. Cory Joseph added 17 points off the bench for Toronto with Jonas Valanciunas contributing 11 points and Patrick Patterson and Terrence Ross 10 each.

The Hawks led by 17 points at halftime and by 13 after the third quarter.

DeRozan trimmed the lead to six points with 2:35 to play but Millsap's cutting dunk had Atlanta ahead by eight with 2:17 left.

DeRozan's jumper again reduced the lead to six. Schroder's layup put the Hawks up by eight with 1:27 to go. A dunk by Valanciunas got the lead down to six points and DeRozan cut it to four with a turnaround jumper.

Delaney made one of two free throws to put the lead at five with 16.6 seconds left before DeRozan's shot made it a three-point lead.

Schroder made one of two foul shots and Atlanta led by four points with six second left. Lowry missed a shot to end the game.

Atlanta led 37-25 after the first quarter and 69-52 at the half.

"They played aggressive and they played like they wanted to win," Lowry said.

DeRozan scored the first six points of the second half as the Raptors trimmed the Hawks' lead to 11 points.

DeMarre Carroll made three free throws with 3:42 left in the third quarter to cut the Hawks' lead to five points. Korver answered with a 3-pointer 21 seconds later.

Mike Muscala's layup got the lead back to 15 and the Hawks led 95-82 after three quarters.

Korver's 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter had the Atlanta lead at 16. He was 6-for-10 from 3-point range.

Joseph made two free throws with 5:57 remaining to cut the lead to 10 points. Lowry's 3-pointer whittled the lead to nine with 4:54 to play

A 3-pointer by Ross and a running dunk by DeRozan reduced Atlanta's lead to six points with 3:47 left.

"They executed extremely well," DeRozan said. "They got on us in the first half. They built a big lead, took advantage of it. We made a lot of mistakes, we put them on the free-throw line a lot, we couldn't rebound when we needed to and they took advantage of it."

NOTES: Hawks G Tim Hardaway Jr. started Friday at shooting guard and will start the next game as well on Saturday. G Kent Bazemore is being brought back slowly after missing two games with a sore right knee. Bazemore played 15 minutes off the bench Tuesday in the 131-120 loss to the Orlando Magic. ... Atlanta F DeAndre Bembry (personal reasons) did not make the trip to Toronto. No specific reason was given. ... Toronto C Lucas Nogueira (sore right knee) returned to the lineup in his reserve role Friday after missing the 123-114 win over the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday. ... The Raptors will visit the Magic at Amway Center on Sunday. ... The Hawks will be home to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday at Philips Arena