Raptors beat Hawks to reach 50-win plateau for first time

TORONTO – Fifty never felt so good. And you know the old saying about never forgetting you’re first time. The Toronto Raptors have their first 50-win season in franchise history, and this particular win couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Raptors topped the Atlanta Hawks 105-97 on Wednesday night to reach the milestone and avoid losing their fourth game out of five before heading out on the road for tough games over the weekend against Memphis and San Antonio.

"For our organization, for the program that we're building it's a good step for us," head coach Dwane Casey said of reaching the 50-win plateau. "I told the team  we're not done yet, but it's an accomplishment that they can't take away from you."

DeMar DeRozan led the way for Toronto with 26 points and Jonas Valanciunas went for 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Kyle Lowry’s shooting struggles continued as he battles an elbow injury, going 4-of-19 from the field but he still managed to score 17 points by hitting two three-pointers and going 7-of-8 from the free-throw line while also adding 11 assists. Lowry wore a sleeve on his right elbow to start the game after having fluid drained from it following Monday's loss to Oklahoma City, but removed it in the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded runs through the first two quarters and the start of the third before the Raptors stretched a 58-53 lead into a 73-55 advantage with a 15-2 run and Toronto led 89-67 after three. Atlanta didn't fold, though, getting back to within 11 halfways through the fourth quarter before the Raptors put them away for good.

"I thought we had some lulls, but the good thing is I thought we had good bounceback," said Casey. "After timeouts we responed. They would make a run and we responded. That's the NBA. I thought our guys come out and played with good energy and after our game the other night I thought they responded well. A good bounceback game against one of the top teams in our conference."

It’s the third straight year the Raptors have established a franchise record for wins, recording 48 wins in 2013-14 and following that up with 49 wins in 2014-15.

Injured forward DeMarre Carroll spoke before the game to address a report that his return this season was in doubt. Carroll, who is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery and hasn’t played since Jan. 3, dismissed the idea that he’s done for the year and stated he hopes to suit up for at least a couple regular season games to prepare for the playoffs.

Two years ago the Raptors hitting 48 wins was seen as a major achievement and was celebrated as such. Here we are with the Raptors at 50 wins and counting – with eight games remaining they could realistically finish with up to 55 victories – and it barely registers. It shows just how far the franchise has come under Casey's guidance with DeRozan and Lowry in leading roles. NBA teams are remembered for how they perform in the playoffs, and now that Toronto is seen as a perennial playoff team, what they do in the regular season has little bearing on how they're perceived.

"This group, I have to tell everybody, is going to go down in the record books," said DeRozan. "That's big; you can never take that away. We have the opportunity to continue to build on it, that's honestly the beauty of it ... We had a tough year last year (in the playoffs), but we just want to come back and be a better team. We're still working toward that."

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr