Raptors play complete game in win over Hawks

TORONTO – After a couple consecutive unconvincing performances, even one that resulted in a win, the Raptors rebounded to turn in a complete game.

The Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks 104-96 Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre in the first of three straight games against Eastern Conference playoffs teams and there wasn’t much more head coach Dwane Casey could have asked for from his team.

DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points. Luis Scola (12 rebounds), Jonas Valanciunas (10 rebounds), and Bismack Biyombo (nine rebounds) cleaned up on the glass. Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson hit their open jump shots, scoring 12 points apiece. Cory Joseph hassled Atlanta’s point guards Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder defensively while rookie Norman Powell did an admirable job chasing around three-point specialist Kyle Korver.

Kyle Lowry struggled from three, going 1-for-8 from beyond the arc, but was still able to contribute 19 points and seven assists.

The Hawks came in hot, having won five of their last six games, and on paper it appeared their strengths would pose problems for the Raptors.

Atlanta’s offence is free flowing – the Hawks are third in the NBA in assist ratio (the number of assists a team averages per 100 possessions) and they rarely resort to isolation plays – and they play lockdown defence – they’re second in overall defensive efficiency behind only San Antonio.

As it turns out, though, playing a team that excels at moving the ball was exactly what Toronto needed to kick start a defence that had been lagging of late.

In a game with 11 lead changes, the Raptors didn’t let Atlanta get into a rhythm, as the Hawks’ biggest scoring run was a 7-0 stretch early in the first quarter. Otherwise the teams settled into a consistent back-and-forth, which suits Toronto’s strengths.

“We played solid defence. It was a grind it out game, a 48 minute game. They’re a very good team across the board,” said Casey. “Now with Horford shooting the three ball it really puts pressure on the defence. The speed of Schroder and the speed of Teague really puts you in a bind. I thought our guys competed did a good job in our coverages, especially down the stretch.”

“That’s a good team down there,” added Lowry. “The way they move the ball, the way their team is set up and the way their offense is run. You have to read and react and try to dictate before they can dictate. It was a good effort for us and a good win.”

The Raptors opened the game by committing seven turnovers in the first quarter – which was more so a product of their own sloppy play than anything Atlanta was doing defensively – but they’d soon get it together and only commit eight more turnovers over the next three quarters.

That was the only blemish on a night where Toronto looked to be back at a level where it needs to be if it's going to be able to grind out wins when the games really count in late April, May, and maybe even June.

“That team is right behind us [in the standings] and there’s a big chance we play them in the playoffs,” said Scola. “We haven’t played them in a couple months, so it was a big game going into the last month of the season and going into the playoffs. It was a great NBA win.”

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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