Hawks unable to complete comeback, fall 118-108 to Raptors

The Atlanta Hawks were in Toronto this evening to take on the Raptors. With the season coming close to an end, both teams are looking to have some momentum through the week. The Raptors took home the 118-108 win in this one, securing a berth in the Playoffs as a Top-6 seed with the victory. The Hawks are now locked into the Play-In, officially.

Trae Young connected with Kevin Huerter early in the quarter for a fast break dunk.

It was back and forth between both teams in the quarter, but one negative for the Hawks was their foul trouble. Late in the first, the Hawks were starting to get into a groove on both sides of the ball, forcing the Raptors into tough shots and capitalizing on offense. De’Andre Hunter was aggressive in the first as he takes it in the lane.

Going into the second quarter, the Hawks had a 31-27 lead. The second unit in and kept the pace for the Hawks, but the Raptors were beating them on second-chance points, which helped them grab the lead midway through the quarter.

Offensive rebounds for the Raptors continued to hurt the Hawks, and Toronto grew their lead to as much as seven points in the quarter. With the Hawks starters back in the game, they were able to weather the storm. Huerter capped it off with a three, his second of the half.

Young was able to find himself open, giving the Hawks the lead again late in the quarter.

The Raptors were able to knock down some shots late and regain the lead heading into halftime. The Hawks came out in the third and went blow for blow with the Raptors on offense, hitting some tough shots but also getting easy shots as well.

Huerter continued to hit big shots for the Hawks to keep them within striking distance.

The Raptors were too tough to stop through the quarter, especially Pascal Siakam who had 29 points in three quarters. The Hawks fought back down the stretch and a floater from Young with a few seconds remaining in the third cut the Hawks deficit to five points going into the fourth.

The Raptors came into the fourth clicking and extended their lead to 12 points early.

The Hawks came back fighting as usual and cut the Raptors lead down minute by minute. Young hit a big three to cut the lead down to two with less than five minutes remaining in the game. Soon after, he made a layup to tie the game.

Down the stretch, both teams struggled to find a basket, but the Raptors were the one to wake up first, as Fred VanVleet finally hit a big shot with 1:03 remaining to give Toronto a five-point lead.

The Hawks never recovered from there, and the Raptors were able to take home the victory, locking themselves into a playoff spot and avoiding the play-in.

Young finished with 26 points and 15 assists, Huerter finished with 21 points, Hunter finished with 20 points, and Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 20 points.

The Hawks will be home tomorrow to face the Washington Wizards.

Stay tuned.