Hawks Implode in 4th Quarter in Loss to Raptors

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 4^th quarter for the home team.

The Hawks kept it close throughout and were actually up by 1 point entering the 4^th, 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 3^rd 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).

There were a few notable performances in this game for Atlanta – though it must be noted that the team’s best work occurred in the first three quarters.

John Collins shared the team lead in points with 14, and it was nice to see the offense flow through him at times.

We have been fairly adamant that Collins, who is having a tremendous rookie campaign, is a more-than-capable facilitator and could serve as an offensive focal point. In the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters, the team seemed to take that to heart as JC served as the offensive helmsman in the high post – finding open cutters to the basket and using multiple screens and dribble hand-offs to get easy looks for his teammates.

Of course, no game would be complete without a high-flying John the Baptist dunk, and he did not disappoint on that front:

Collins finished with those 14 points on 6 of 12 shooting with 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes. He could’ve been given a block on this play, but an unforgiving Toronto scorer refused him that luxury. This was still a nice defensive play, though, as Collins continues to show strong instincts on that end:

Fellow rookie Tyler Dorsey was manhandled by Derozan in this game, as he fouled out for the first time in his young career in 24 minutes of play, but not before scoring 10 points on 4 of 13 shooting with 3 rebounds and this nice lob to Miles Plumlee (who had 9 points and 9 rebounds in this one):

Dorsey also had 3 turnovers to go along with those 6 fouls – not the young two guard’s best showing in the NBA thus far.

Dewayne Dedmon played extremely well in this spot, and though his touches were limited (due to a clear focus on the development of Collins), Dedmon made the most of them.

He did miss a huge dunk attempt, but Dedmon still finished with a double-double of 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting with 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 1 steal in 26 minutes of action.

Kent Bazemore held a co-share with JC for the team lead in points with 14 of his own on only 6 of 8 shooting and 5 assists. Baze was effective overall, though 4 turnovers left something to be desired on this night.

Dennis Schröder had a quiet night of 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 turnovers of his own.

Schröd has a hard time contending with the size of Toronto as Valanciunas and Jakob Poeltl stymy Dennis’s signature drives to the rim with quick feet, tremendous heft and unimpeachable length.

Overall, this was a tough game for the Hawks, who played the East-leading Raptors well through the first three quarters but were let down by sloppy play in the 4^th – right as Toronto decided to play a bit more cohesively.

Next: John Collins is Having a Historically Good Season

Atlanta returns to action on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. EST tipoff on the road against the Indiana Pacers.