The Hawks dropped their fourth straight game, ending the week with a second consecutive loss to the Raptors.
The Raptors outplayed the Hawks in pretty much every facet of the game. The Hawks trailed the Raptors in nearly every category of the box score to fall 117-94 at State Farm Arena on Saturday.
Here are five observations:
1. A lot went wrong for the Hawks on Saturday night and the injuries to numerous players compounded it. The Hawks could not string together enough stops or enough buckets to maintain their early lead on the Raptors.
The Raptors eventually outmuscled and outran them to hold them to the second-fewest points they’ve scored this season. The Raptors outscored the Hawks in each of the final three quarters of the game and eventually built a 28-point lead with 2:41 left in the game.
“I think we started the game, really well,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “The way that they guard us, particularly face-guarding Trae (Young) all over the floor. That’s something that you’re aware of. It happened the last time we played, it’s something we talked about at shootaround that had an impact. And then I think also some guys are in unfamiliar situations having some guys out that made it harder for us. You saw the result.”
2. The Hawks needed someone to get hot and Vit Krejci picked up where he left off from Thursday’s action, despite dealing with an illness. Krejci knocked down all four his 3-pointers in his first 12 minutes of play as he tried to power the Hawks
Krejci scored a career-high 20 points, with all of his made field goals coming from beyond the arc.
But Krejci also dished seven assists in his attempt to create looks for his teammates who couldn’t seem to buy a bucket.
“I think playing with the pass, like I said many times before, if we play with the pass, we get the right shots,” Krejci said. “And they always feel better.”
3. Krejci remained a bright spot for the Hawks on the other side of the ball, as well. The 24-year-old wing was everywhere on defense wreaking havoc on the majority of his one-on-one matchups.
He ended the night with a career-high three steals but also denied some of the Raptors’ looks at the basket. He blocked two shots.
With 2:24 left, Krejci stayed in front of Scottie Barnes, keeping his feet planted. Krejci forced Barnes into a series of pump fakes and then he stuck his hand up to force Barnes to miss.
“Every player got different tendencies, and I know Scottie likes to pump fake,” Krejci said. “So, just trying to think about that. I watched a lot of video. So just trying to think what they would do, and just stay calm and not do anything like foul, something like that.”
4. Young saw his streak of games with five or more assists come to an end on Saturday after he went the entire first half without one. He finished the night with a season-low four.
The Hawks guard has averaged 12 assists per game through the first half of the season. But his streak came to an end at 202 games.
“God willing I play more than 300 more games, and I can get 300 straight starting now,” Young said. “That’s part of it. To be honest with you, I’ve had, I think, I had a long streak before that. I have another long streak of getting guys involved, and that’s never gonna stop.”
5. After making a splash in his NBA debut in Chicago earlier this month against the Bulls, two-way wing Daeqwon Plowden made his State Farm Arena debut.
“So it’s an amazing feeling,” Plowden said. “Honestly, definitely, I appreciate the fans for being that supportive group for me, especially just being my first game here in State Farm.”
Plowden checked into Saturday’s game to begin the fourth quarter. He had the assignment of guarding Barnes.
The Hawks called Plowden up from their G League affiliate Saturday morning with the number of wings sidelined with injuries.
Forward De’Andre Hunter missed the game with an illness, while rookie Zaccharie Risacher remains out with a left adductor strain.
Stat to know
2 - The Hawks’ two losses to the Raptors in Atlanta are 18% of the Raptors’ wins this season.
Quotable
“It was tough. I felt terrible from like two days ago. Feel like I’ve got a little fever coming in. So I felt terrible. But we got a couple guys out.” -- Vit Krejci on playing with a cold.
Up next
The Hawks travel to Minnesota to face the Timberwolves on Monday.
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