A 118-108 loss in Toronto Tuesday means Atlanta is officially locked into a play-in tournament game.
Next up, the Hawks will return home and host the Wizards Wednesday, on the second half of a back-to-back. That game vs. Washington marks the final home game of the regular season.
Below are some takeaways from the loss:
1. The Hawks’ five-game win streak is snapped, and they’re now locked into a play-in game, meaning a No. 7-10 finish in the Eastern Conference standings.
2. No. 7 Cleveland (43-37) lost to the Magic Tuesday night, but is still 1 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta (41-38) and Brooklyn (41-38), which beat Houston Tuesday, with Charlotte (40-39) one game further behind. The Hawks have just three regular-season games remaining as they jockey for play-in tournament positioning.
3. Trailing by four at halftime, the Hawks got down 12 early in the fourth quarter before starters (plus Bogdan Bogdanovic, in lieu of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot) came back out with 8:24 to play. The Hawks’ bench struggled in this game, combining for 24 points compared to 37 from the Raptors’ bench, with every bench player finishing with a negative plus-minus (Bogdanovic: 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists, minus-eight; Delon Wright: three points, four rebounds, three assists, minus-13; Onyeka Okongwu: zero points, two rebounds, minus-15; Jalen Johnson: zero points, minus-nine; Lou Williams: two points, two assists, minus-15).
An 11-0 run, capped by a Trae Young free throw, gave the Hawks a 103-102 lead at the 2:53 mark, but after struggling all night, a 3-pointer by Fred VanVleet (4 for 21, 2 for 12 from 3-point range, 2 for 3 free throws, 12 points, nine assists) later put the Raptors in front by five with about a minute to go. Even with Bogdanovic making a 3-pointer with the Hawks down seven in the final minute, it wasn’t quite enough to jump back in front. The Hawks had to start fouling after that, with the Raptors going 6 for 6 from the line to seal the win.
“I think that’s when they were starting to really pound the paint,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said of minutes with Young off the floor. “Offensive rebounds, they had size in that second unit, when VanVleet went off the floor, (Pascal) Siakam came back in the game and he basically played the point. They play with a lot of size.”
4. With a size advantage, the Raptors dominated on the boards, pulling down 74 rebounds to the Hawks’ 48, and won the paint 62-42. Toronto nabbed 20 offensive rebounds to Atlanta’s 10, tallying 24 second-chance points to the Hawks’ 16. Siakam led Toronto with 31 points and 13 rebounds, with Scottie Barnes adding 19 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.
The Hawks were missing some size with John Collins (right ring finger sprain/right foot strain) and Danilo Gallinari (left knee inflammation) out, with the Raptors missing OG Anunoby (right quad contusion).
“They’re a long team,” Young said. “They’re a tall team. That’s what they do. They’re very strong, very scrappy. That’s what makes them good. You look at their squad, they’re not necessarily the most talented team, but they play really hard. They play together and they’ve got a lot of guys that are really just giving it everything. It’s not necessarily they’re good at one thing, but they’ve got a lot of guys that are really good at a lot of things.”
5. At 23 years and 198 days old, Young (26 points, 15 assists, four rebounds) became the second-youngest player in league history to reach 2,500 assists, behind LeBron James (23 years and 80 days). He’s also the third Hawk to reach 700 in a season (joining Doc Rivers, who did so twice, and Mookie Blaylock).
— Stat of the game: 74-48 (the margin by which the Raptors won the boards)
— Star of the game: Siakam (led the Raptors in scoring with a game-high 31 points, adding 13 rebounds, six assists, one block and one steal with zero turnovers)
— Quotable: “They had us scrambling. It felt like those possessions at the end, trying to protect the paint, obviously they lived in the paint all game. Didn’t get great looks on the offensive end, couldn’t answer when we needed to.” (wing Kevin Huerter, who helped keep the Hawks in the game with 21 points and four assists, on the final minutes)
