Peachtree Hoops: Hawks come up short against Raptors, 123-121

[Hawksquawk]

Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images

The Hawks returned to regular season play after the All-Star Break intermission, but they would have to do so without Onyeka Okongwu for the foreseeable future.

The Hawks got off to a slow start, including miss shots at the rim, missed free throws, and transition buckets ceded due to the former two issues. At the first timeout, the Raptors led 9-2.

But the reset didn’t help much, as the Hawks quickly found themselves down 15-2 largely by way of an 0-for-12 streak from the field. Head coach Quin Snyder was forced to burn yet another timeout as Toronto jumped out to a 20-7 lead just six minutes into the contest.

The Hawks found their footing a bit from that point onward, however, as Dejounte Murray was able to find his way to the rim on a number of occasions.

DJ getting warm

He's up to 8 in the quarter pic.twitter.com/JOV17WpDo3

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 24, 2024

After one quarter, the Hawks trailed 33-22.

In the second period, Bruno Fernando made his impact known with some powerful finishes at the rim. That plus some quick trigger bombs from Bogdan Bogdanovic and Garrison Mathews helped further cut into the deficit and make it a competitive contest.

With a better offensive flow, the Hawks got to within just two points early in the second quarter. Along the way, coach Snyder took offense to a screen set by Jakob Poeltl on Trae Young that clipped Young to the ground, and Snyder’s objections earned him an ejection from the referees.

De’Andre Hunter came off the bench for this one like he has been doing for the past few weeks, and he hit this stop and pop three during the Hawks surge.

Dr3 from the top of the key pic.twitter.com/C3gNZHN74h

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 24, 2024

Jalen Johnson also put together a solid first half, including this nifty finish in the lane.

JJ changed to the finger roll in midair ️ pic.twitter.com/Lf64hZyJsj

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 24, 2024

After one half of play, the Hawks had recovered to trail by just one point, 65-64. Bruno Fernando and Dejounte Murray each had 10 points at the break.

In the second half, the Hawks continued executing on the offensive end. Murray picked up where he left off, blowing by defenders on his way to the rim. Atlanta took a 75-71 lead by the first timeout of the third quarter.

From there, it remained a competitive contest with neither side managing to build a huge lead. Hunter reached into his bag of tricks with some nice scores, including this one at a difficult angle.

Dre somehow banked this in pic.twitter.com/e3fHAW1O4u

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 24, 2024

But a late quarter surge from the Raptors gave the visitors a 96-90 lead after 36 minutes.

Atlanta’s defense failed them in the early portion of the fourth quarter, with Toronto getting almost anything they wanted off drives and cuts. The Raptors pushed the lead to 107-98 at one point, the largest of the second half.

But from there, the Hawks pushed back with a 7-0 run. Unfortunately, Atlanta couldn’t buy a bucket from deep the entire second half, starting 2-for-15 from beyond the arc. That made the hill even steeper the climb if they were to win the game.

A Hunter triple with just under three minutes left both broke the icy streak and brought the game to 114-112 margin. Toronto fought back with a couple of hard earned buckets of their own to hold onto the lead.

A pair of De’Andre Hunter free throws made it a 121-118 game with 42.2 seconds left in the contest. Atlanta came up with a stop and took control of possession with 18.3 seconds remaining. But Dejounte Murray stepped out of bound trying to retrieve a handoff, and the Raptors were able to get an uncontested layup to effectively seal the game, 123-121.

Dejounte Murray led the way with 24 points and 10 assists. De’Andre Hunter added 22 points off the bench. But the Hawks couldn’t quite hit the shots they needed for find the stops they needed down the stretch of the game, and so they began the second ‘half’ of the season with a loss.

The Hawks next play the Orlando Magic at home on Sunday.

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