The Toronto Raptors will be out to complete a sweep of their four-game season series against the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.
The Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter Saturday night to defeat the Hawks 134-117 in the third meeting between the teams. Toronto won both games in Atlanta during the first three weeks of the season.
The Hawks, who defeated the New York Knicks on Friday, were down by one point entering the fourth quarter before the Raptors scored 16 straight points.
Defense was ignored for much of the game, particularly in the second quarter when Toronto had a 42-41 advantage to take a 77-70 halftime lead. By contrast, Toronto outscored Atlanta 27-11 in the fourth quarter.
“Going back and forth, scoring, alright,” said Toronto’s RJ Barrett, who scored a season-best 29 points. “But nobody’s playing defense. That fourth quarter, that is Raptors basketball. So that felt good to be a part of, you know, being on the court for that. Like, that is who we are, that’s who we need to be.”
Brandon Ingram also scored 29 points and added nine rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.
“This is going to be a very interesting film,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We had one quarter where we allowed 41 points and one where we allowed 11 points. And that comparison is going to be very daring for us. We need to look at it and really try to understand what it takes to win an NBA game and win against a really good team.”
Toronto reserve Sandro Mamukelashvili was a big contributor with 13 points and a career-best eight assists, as well as season bests of 12 rebounds and three blocks.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 31 points for Atlanta, Jalen Johnson added 30 points and Dyson Daniels had 20 points and 12 assists.
The Hawks committed eight turnovers leading to eight points in the fourth quarter.
“First and foremost, they ran off our mistakes and turnovers,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And then we had a couple shots that didn’t fall, but it’s hard for you to defend against those turnovers.”
The Hawks will have a day to rest before completing the two-game set. Playing back-to-back games and constantly chipping away at Toronto leads took a toll.
“It’s tough to find the energy to continue to do that,” Snyder said. “So when you do it, you have to keep playing solid. Turnovers are going to get you behind or hurt a comeback one way or the other. I’ll have to look at (the turnovers), but a few of them were just unforced.”
The Hawks can use some lessons from the loss and apply them on Monday.
“A team that’s physical and puts a lot of pressure on you like that, you have to drive,” Daniels said. “You have to get feet in the paint. If you play on the back foot and allow them to be physical, that’s when you can get hurt and things start to get tougher. And so, we have to be aggressive, go downhill, play fast, and that’s when our backdoors and stuff open up. So I think their aggression has to be combated with our aggression. We just have to be more aggressive next time.”
Atlanta was without Trae Young (right quadriceps contusion), Kristaps Porzingis (rest) and Luke Kennard (sore back) on Saturday.
Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl (lower back strain) did not play.
