Hawks Implode in 4th Quarter in Loss to Raptors
By Chris Guest
After a low-scoring first three quarters of this game, the Atlanta Hawks lost their focus and fell to the Toronto Raptors on the back of a 30-13 advantage in the 4th quarter for the home team.
The Hawks kept it close throughout and were actually up by 1 point entering the 4th, but the team seemingly fell apart at the seams – turnovers flew all over the court, shots missed the rim entirely – and the Raptors were able to slice and dice the Hawks’ defense, which had been relatively stout throughout.
A major reason for the Raptors victory was an immense free throw disparity. The Hawks were able to get up 21 attempts at the charity stripe, but that was dwarfed by 33 free throws from Toronto, led by DeMar Derozan’s game-high 14.
Derozan had a strong game overall, with a game-high 25 points on only 12 shot attempts with 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal in 28 minutes.
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The 3rd quarter was an absolute parade of free throws, as Hawks rookie Tyler Dorsey fouled Derozan on seemingly every possession, though one or two of the calls was suspect.
The Raps did not play particularly well overall, though, as they only shot 38.6 percent from the field as a team and a very poor 27.8 percent from deep.
Still, with the Hawks in full-on tank mode and far less energized than they were in the opening half of this game, taking care of this one at home was never really a question for the Raptors.
Toronto mostly used an extremely deep lineup to down Atlanta on this night as every player that saw seven or more minutes of action scored at least 4 points – led by Derozan, Jonas Valanciunas (15 points) and C.J Miles (14 points, 4 of 9 from three).