National Basketball Association
Toronto 128, Atlanta 84
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 3, 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Officials:
#3 Nick Buchert, #51 Aaron Smith, #49 Tom Washington
Attendance:
19800
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- While the Atlanta Hawks are talking about hitting the reset button, the Toronto Raptors are happy to keep things going the way they are.
The Raptors outscored the Hawks 42-14 in the fourth quarter Saturday night in a game that they already had under tight control as they rolled to a 128-84 victory and extended their winning streak to a season-best six games.
It was the Raptors' largest margin of victory ever. Toronto (14-6) shot 72 percent in the fourth quarter and 57.6 percent from the field overall.
"Like I always say, it's a cliche, but it's a make-or-miss league," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "Guys are making shots, making their shots, the ball is finding energy moving."
The Hawks (10-11) are going in reverse. They lost their sixth in a row and fell for the ninth time in 10 games.
"For sure, I think there is a little reset-button mentality," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "It's just been a tough 10 or 12 days. So we'll take tomorrow off, we've got another good team (Oklahoma City Thunder) on Monday, but a reset would be great."
DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 21 points while Kyle Lowry scored 17 points and dished out eight assists.
"They are trying to double team Kyle and DeMar, and they're finding people and the ball is finding the right people," Casey said. "When you move the ball like that, it has energy inside of it, and I think it helped us on the other end when the ball is moving like that."
The Raptors (14-6) led by as many as 21 points during the first half, were ahead by 15 points at halftime and by 16 after three quarters before running away with the game in the fourth quarter.
The Hawks' biggest lead was five points, and there were only two lead changes and three ties.
A dunk by Lucas Nogueira, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, gave Toronto a 23-point lead with 9:56 to play. The Raptors led by 34 with 5:57 left on a 3-pointer by Terrence Ross, who had 15 points on the game.
Ross then hit a field goal to give Toronto a 38-point lead, and Pascal Siakam's dunk made it a 44-point margin.
Patrick Patterson added 17 points off the bench for Toronto, while Siakam contributed 12 points and DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph each had 10.
"This team is a little unique, it's a little different," Patterson said. "You have two guards who can put up countless numbers on any given night. We have a solid bench and solid role players, so right now we're high. We are making shots. Early on in the season, we were missing shots, but right now it seems like the ball is just finding the net and hopefully we can just continue that through the rest of the season."
Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway Jr. each scored 15 points for the Hawks. Dwight Howard had 10 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, while Kris Humphries added 10 points.
"We just have to stop getting frustrated with each other," Howard said. "We're going to make mistakes, we're going to have tough situations on the floor, and it showed. I think we need to do a little better job holding our composure and understand that it won't be like this the whole season. Things will get better, we just have to say with it, stay together and keep our heads high."
DeRozan scored 14 points in the first quarter to lead Toronto to a 32-22 advantage.
The Hawks whittled the Raptors' lead to five early in the second quarter. Ross hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 to play, and the Raptors led by 19 points. Toronto got the lead to 21 before taking a 62-47 lead into the intermission.
The lead was down to 13 after Kyle Korver's driving jumper with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter. Siakam's dunk to complete a fastbreak with 3:22 left in the third bumped Toronto's lead to 20 points. The Raptors were on top 86-70 after the third quarter.
"I think we kind of made a choice to put a lot of pressure on DeRozan and Lowry, and you know, they're a good team," Budenholzer said. "You take something away, those other guys were able to make some threes tonight."
NOTES: Raptors F DeMarre Carroll, a former Hawks player, returned to the lineup Saturday after being rested Friday in the win over the Los Angeles Lakers on the front end of back-to-back games. Carroll's playing time is being monitored to rest his right knee. F Norman Powell scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds in his place on Friday. ... Hawks F Paul Millsap (left hip) missed his third consecutive game on Saturday and could miss at least one more. ... The Hawks recalled F DeAndre' Bembry from Salt Lake City of the D-League, and he played seven scoreless minutes Saturday. ... The Raptors play the fifth game of their six-game homestand Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the Hawks return home to play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
Top Game Performances
Atlanta |
|
Toronto |
Tim Hardaway Jr. 15 |
Scoring |
DeMar DeRozan 21 |
Dennis Schroder 6 |
Assists |
Kyle Lowry 8 |
Dwight Howard 17 |
Rebounds |
Kyle Lowry 8 |
Kent Bazemore 2 |
Free Throws Made |
DeMar DeRozan 5 |
Kyle Korver 2 |
Steals |
DeMarre Carroll 3 |
Dwight Howard 2 |
Blocks |
Lucas Nogueira 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Atlanta
|
84 |
39.8 |
7-28 |
7-14 |
21 |
38 |
5 |
7 |
19 |
Toronto
|
128 |
57.6 |
13-24 |
9-11 |
28 |
48 |
7 |
14 |
15 |
Upcoming Games
-
Toronto will play their next game at home against Cleveland. The Raptors have a W/L % of .692 after a win and .714 after a loss.
-
Atlanta will play their next game at home against Oklahoma City. The Hawks have a W/L % of .727 after a win and .200 after a loss.