A quick recap of the Atlanta Hawks defeat at the hands of the Toronto Raptors.
It was a tale of two halves for the Atlanta Hawks against the Toronto Raptors tonight, with the team coming out smoking hot in the first and then fizzling out as the game dwindled into the 4th quarter.
A few stats backing up that claim: The Hawks scored more points in the second quarter (35) than they did in the entire second half (33 points total). In total, they scored 68 first half points, but the offense fell apart in the second half thanks to a switch-heavy, rangy defense anchored by Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and the recently acquired Patrick McCaw.
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The Hawks still shot extremely well from long range (16 of 35, 45.7%), but 13 of those makes came in the first half – meaning the team only made 3 in the second half. Not ideal.
Furthermore, the Hawks only shot 52 percent from the free throw line (13 of 25) and turned the ball over 17 times, so they weren’t really making it easy for themselves.
Though only down 3 points heading into the final frame, the Atlanta Hawks were outscored 31 to 16 in the 4th quarter – giving this game a more decisive final score than it truly deserves.
It must be noted that the Raptors did all this damage without the help of Kawhi Leonard, who was resting with a sore knee. It was no matter to Toronto, who got career-highs out of two players: Siakam and Fred VanVleet.
Siakam was an absolute force on both ends, as his incredible stat line would entail: 33 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and a +23 on/off rating. VanVleet one-upped Siakam in the on/off department with a robust +32 and he also finished with 30 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
The Atlanta Hawks play next on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST against the Charlotte Hornets.