A stellar shooting night helped the Hawks snap a three-game losing streak and beat the Raptors, 132-121, Saturday at State Farm Arena.
Next up, the Hawks (11-12) will go three days without a game, a rarity in this compressed NBA season, before playing in Dallas Wednesday.
Below are some takeaways from the win:
1. By far, this was the Hawks best shooting night of the season, finishing with a season-high 56.8% from the floor (42-for-74) and 52.8% from 3-point range (19-for-36), going 29-for-33 from the line (87.9%). “I thought that was our best win this year, in terms of efficiency, shooting, moving, playing together,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “I thought our defensive intensity was good to see, the spirit. ... I thought the spirit of our guys was really tremendous, and for me, that was really encouraging to see.” They tallied 31 assists, which is one shy of their season-high.
2. The Hawks were up three at the half and opened the second half on a 7-0 run to take a 73-63 lead. With a 35-point third quarter, they entered the fourth quarter up seven and put themselves in position to win the game after still maintaining a solid lead (109-103) even when Trae Young sat for the first four-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter. Staying in the game during that stretch was an issue in recent losses to the Lakers and Mavericks, so that’s an encouraging sign moving forward. The Raptors pulled within five points at the 1:41 mark, but a 3-pointer by Kevin Huerter less than a minute later was the dagger.
3. Six Hawks players finished in double figures, as shots poured in: Young (28), Clint Capela (23), John Collins (19), Kevin Huerter (19), Danilo Gallinari (14) and Cam Reddish (10). “The ball was moving, shots were going down,” said Young, who added 13 assists for a double-double. “When shots go down, it’s kind of like a trickle effect and kind of carries over to the whole game. We were just making a lot more shots tonight and it felt good.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
4. The Hawks entered the game having lost 10 straight to the Raptors, so this finally broke that streak. They overcame 19 turnovers in the win. Chris Boucher led Toronto with a career-high 29 points, and Fred VanVleet added 25 points.
5. In addition to his 23 points, Capela added four blocks and 16 rebounds for a double-double. This was his 19th consecutive game with double-digit rebounds, which ties Dwight Howard’s record for the most by a Hawks player (from Feb. 25 to March 2 in 2017).
Stat of the game
74.6% (the Hawks’ true shooting percentage in the game, another season-high)
Star of the game
Young (led the Hawks in scoring and paced the offense well throughout the game)
Quotable
“When you shoot the ball like that, you give yourself a lot of chances to win the game.” (Capela on the Hawks’ hot shooting night)
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