The Hawks were in such a slumber they had just four players on the floor as play began at one point.
It's no wonder officials didn't initially notice the missing player. The Hawks barely made an impression while losing 102-86 to Toronto Sunday at Philips Arena.
Atlanta could have clinched a berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a victory. Instead the Hawks were dominated by the Raptors (22-39), who long ago were eliminated from the postseason.
“I think some of us was ready, and some of us wasn't,” Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. “It just kind of gave a bad effect on the whole team. But give Toronto credit. They were better than us tonight. If we come out and start like that tomorrow, they'll be better than us [again].”
The Hawks play at Toronto Monday, and no longer does that game look like a walkover for Atlanta.
The Raptors are headed to the draft lottery and started two journeymen players because of injuries. The Hawks are gearing up for the playoffs while trying to win enough games to secure home-court advantage in the first round.
Yet the Hawks quickly trailed 21-11, were down 53-39 at halftime and trailed by as many as 24 points in the second half. Hawks coach Larry Drew benched all of his starters except for Johnson once Toronto opened up an 80-65 lead early in the final period.
Hawks fans were in full grumble.
“Very, very, very flat,” Drew said. “The energy level was very low. What happened between our last game against Orlando and tonight's game, I don't know the reason we were so flat.”
The Hawks eased past Orlando Friday but snoozed against the Raptors.
The Raptors encountered little resistance while scoring 12 of their first 21 points in the paint. When the Hawks finally started protecting the paint, Toronto stepped out to make jump shots.
In the first half the Raptors shot 58.8 percent, held a 26-19 advantage in rebounding and made 10 of 15 free-throw attempts. Toronto's shooting percentage was written on the the Hawks' locker room board at halftime, underlined for emphasis.
But the defense didn't get much better after halftime. The Hawks rallied to cut the lead to 59-54 but the Raptors, their confidence boosted, continued to pour it on.
DeMar DeRozan scored a team-high 23 points for the Raptors, not surprising because he leads them in scoring among healthy players. But the Hawks also were hurt by three players who are essentially auditioning for their next job.
Alan Anderson, Justin Dentmon and Ben Uzoh all were playing on their second 10-day contracts. They made their case to stick around.
Anderson scored 16 points and made 6 of 9 shots compared to Johnson's seven points and 2 of 12 shooting. Uzoh scored 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting and Dentmon had 10 points and four assists off the bench.
The Hawks failed to match the zip those fringe players provided. A couple sleepy sequences typified Atlanta's fog.
In the third quarter, forward Josh Smith took a seat on the bench as Johnson prepared to check in at the scorer's table. But Johnson never did enter the game as play started; officials eventually called a timeout and waved Johnson into the game.
After DeRozan scored with 5.9 seconds left before halftime, Smith took the ball from out of bounds and tried to heave a full-court pass. The Raptors intercepted it and Uzoh raced down to make a short, uncontested jump shot at the buzzer for a 53-39 lead.
The Hawks heard scattered boos as they headed to the locker room and more when their hole got even deeper in the second half.
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