Huge Fourth Quarter Surges Raptors Past The Hawks

Aravind Lingam
Mar 7, 2018
5 min read

The Raptors come into this game riding a 4-game winning streak while the Atlanta Hawks are trying to maintain the worst record in the Eastern Conference to get a high rank in the upcoming NBA draft. Toronto hasn’t played exceptionally well in their past few games according to their standards and were hoping to make a statement at home. The Hawks were looking to steal a win at the best home court in the NBA.

Toronto Raptors were looking to bolster their lead on the Boston Celtics by defeating the lowly visiting Atlanta Hawks.

The Raptors and Hawks were trading baskets early in this game. One thing to look out for when watching the Toronto Raptors is their lack of focus and concentration when starting games. The Hawks played the Raptors tough and used their great ball movement to get good looks. The Hawks do not have the greatest set of talent but their teamwork makes them unpredictable on where the offense will come from. Atlanta jumped out to an early lead as the Raptors had to claw back to get this game back in control. The Raptors closed off the quarter strong with a 5-0 run capped off with a VanVleet three and Delon jumper off the offensive rebound. The first quarter ended 27-28 with the Hawks taking the lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter started and the bench were out there against the Atlanta bench. The Bench Mob to everyone’s surprise did not play up to their standards as they let the Hawks extend the lead. The shots were not falling especially from the perimeter for the Raptors. Toronto shot 5/19 from outside in the first half compared to the 5/9 shooting from the Hawks.

Casey had to rely on his starters to carry the load as they cut the deficit back to 1 to end the half. Kyle Lowry was a no-show in the first half as he laid a big goose egg with zero points in the entire half. Lowry’s struggles continued as he picked up a technical for arguing a foul on the screen set by Muscala. DeRozan came to hold him back. Not too soon after, DeMar picked up a technical for arguing after getting called for the offensive foul. The Raptors were frustrated and out of tune in the first half with a score of 50-51.

The Hawks smothered any Toronto Raptors that was trying to score inside and let them shoot as many threes as they like.

Dwane Casey was disgusted with the lack of effort and were tired of the guys complaining for calls instead of playing hard. The second half the Raptors came out stronger led by DeMar DeRozan. DeMar carried the team’s offense with 12 of his 25 points in the third quarter. Mike Budenholzer was letting the referees hear it as DeMar DeRozan went to the line for six free throws in a row. On this night, the Raptors shot their free throws a lot better than the Charlotte game and it allowed the Raptors to hold on with the Hawks. The Hawks never let the game get out of hand and hit timely shots to keep the game within striking distance. Atlanta closed out the third quarter with an 8-2 run as the Hawks retook the lead 76-77.

Both teams have played this game as evenly as possible. Both teams scored the same number of points in the second and third quarters. The Raptors wanted to rewrite this pattern as they started off the fourth quarter with the bench once again. The Hawks bench had outplayed the Raptors bench up until this point. But the Bench Mob finally woke up in the fourth quarter and this was bad news for the Hawks. They started to push the pace, score in transition, move the ball and hit their shots. Jakob Poeltl was defending the rim with authority which led to easy transition baskets. Delon Wright was solid on both ends with his stifling defense on Schroeder and his ability to score in the lane. Wright was playing great and right after he scored on a back cut which gave the Raptors a 10-point lead, he ended up getting injured. He left the game with a sprained big toe and did not return to the game.

Delon was a key member of the Bench Mob when they mounted the comeback but got injured in the process.

Dwane Casey liked what he saw from the bench to start this fourth quarter and went with an unorthodox lineup that the Raptors don’t use that often. Lowry, VanVleet, DeRozan, Miles, and Poeltl were all on the floor together to close out the game. CJ Miles hit back breaking threes and the ball movement was excellent as the Raptors got high percentage looks down the stretch. The Toronto defense turned the Hawks over as they turned the ball over 21 times in the game. Turning the ball over that many times would make it hard to win any game especially on the road. The Raptors closed the game out and cruised to a 16-point win.

Toronto Raptors Atlanta Hawks

106 90

Player of the Game

CJ Miles

27 minutes, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 turnover, 5-11 shooting, 4-9 3PT, 0-1 FT

This was a game won by committee but the player that stuck out the most was CJ Miles. CJ hit half of the Raptors’ threes and the Raptors went 10/36 on the night. Every three he passes up is most often a miss at this point from any of the other players. His accuracy is definitely something the Raptors will require when the playoffs arrive. CJ was doing more than just shooting as he drew a charge, was active on the glass and played strong defense in the decisive fourth quarter. An overall excellent game from CJ Miles who led the team with a +22 rating.

Things To Take Away From This Game

1. Bench Mob

The bench struggled all game long and it seemed as if the Raptors were in for a close finish, but the bench finally woke up and smashed the Hawks in the decisive fourth quarter. The ability to change the makeup of the game in half a quarter was amazing. The Raptors led by the bench won the fourth quarter 33-13. Delon also had a great game and hopefully his injury does not have him sit out too many games as the Raptors need to hold onto that top seed in the East.

2. Throwing Up Bricks

The Raptors shot poorly from the outside once again and have been shying away from scoring in the paint which they happened to do at a high rate. The Hawks decided to close down the paint and allow the Raptors to shoot as many threes as they like and the Raptors could not find the bottom of the net all game long. CJ Miles saved them with his 5 threes on the night, but going forward the team needs to practice making threes with consistency.

3. Kyle Lowry

Man, what a terrible stat line from the floor general who played the 6th most minutes on the team tonight. Both VanVleet and Miles played more minutes that Lowry. Lowry only scored 4 points on the night and went 2-6 from the field. He did not look aggressive and was frustrated by the Hawks’ physicality. Kyle is likely the one player who gets hit with screens the most on the team and he was infuriated by a borderline illegal screen which he took offense to and picked up the technical foul. The technical foul may not be solely directed at that illegal screen but also his struggles on the floor contributed to this. Lowry will bounce back, but games like these are what Raptors fans do not hope to see when playoffs roll around.