Raptors Cage

Post Game Report: Raptors soar past East leading Hawks

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courtesy of ocanada.com
courtesy of ocanada.com

In a scrappy battle between two Eastern Conference heavyweights, the Toronto Raptors prevailed over the Atlanta Hawks with an impressive 105-80 victory Friday night at the Philips Arena. Toronto (37-17) led 49-45 after two frames and never looked back owing to physical play, turnovers and uncharacteristic sloppiness by Atlanta (43-12). Louis Williams played the role of disgruntled and vengeful former teammate, torching his former squad for 26 points, four steals and one block on 9-14 shooting (7-10 from downtown). DeMar DeRozan also chipped in with 21 points and eight rebounds while Kyle Lowry recorded a near double-double (10 points, 9 assists).

Tonight wasn’t a pleasant viewing experience and followed the trend of post All-Star break games. But a win is a win, and the Raptors could certainly use a few breaks considering the salty road schedule that lies ahead – games against Houston, New Orleans and Dallas. The Raptors have now won four straight with victories in nine of their past 11 games and have their eyes set on the no.2 seed in the East. Oh yeah, they also took the season series against the Hawks.

Offense: B+

The Raptors’ offense was yet again predicated on isolation set plays and threes in the early going, but heated up in the second half, thanks in large part to the aforementioned Williams. Toronto finished the night on 44.8% shooting and hit a ridiculous 43.3% of their threes attempted (13-30). Living and dying by the three is Toronto’s bread and butter but the points in the paint (48) was a pleasant surprise. Williams, Lowry and DeRozan were the only members who scored in double digits for the Raptors.

Defense: A

Tonight’s effort was arguably the best defensive effort of the year, holding the explosive and efficient Atlanta offense (103.4 ppg) to 80 points on 33% shooting   – just as everyone predicted. The Raptors forced a cautious Atlanta team to an inordinate amount of turnovers (23), which led to 30 points. The most impressive feat was holding the Hawks’ offense, featuring gifted downtown shooters, to 21.1% (8-38) from beyond the arch. Overall, Toronto was very active on the defensive end played with grit.

Rebounding: B

Rebounding was even between both teams, finishing with 52 apiece. Toronto was led by Jonas Valanciunas who amassed 13 boards while Amir Johnson grabbed seven. Atlanta’s center Al Horford was the leading rebounder for the opposition with 12.

Game Ball: Louis Williams

The reserve guard was unstoppable tonight and scored 20+ points for the thirteenth time this season, hitting contested threes and stepbacks with ease. Williams carried the offensive load for the Raptors and was the story of the night with a grand fantasy stat line. A pure offensive threat and the no.2 bench scorer in the association, the 28-year-old is hard to contain when he’s on his game. Hopefully, the strong play will continue going forward.

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