It was closer than the Hawks would have liked, but they held on to beat the Raptors, 108-103, Tuesday in Tampa.
Next up, the Hawks (30-25) will begin a three-game homestand Thursday against Milwaukee.
Below are some takeaways from the win:
1. Toronto’s Malachi Flynn made five 3′s in the fourth quarter (four in the final two minutes) to narrow a comfortable win to a nail-biter. The Hawks had led by as much as 15 but couldn’t quite put the game away early, and that lead was trimmed to eight, 97-89, with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter. Flynn scored 15 points in the fourth (22 overall) and his final 3-pointer made it a two-point game with 19.8 seconds to play, after Brandon Goodwin had missed a pair of free throws, but the Hawks were able to eek out a win. Goodwin went 3-for-4 from the line after that and had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. Pascal Siakam kept the Raptors in it for most of the game, with 30 points and seven assists. Hawks interim coach Nate McMillan didn’t like the way the team closed, which included five turnovers in the fourth: “It was disappointing. We get the win, and we did a lot of good things, and the fourth quarter, we’ve just got to be sharper than that. We’ve been sharper than that.”\
2. Despite being one of the most injury-plagued teams in the league, the Hawks are finding ways to get things done, having won seven of their last eight games. This was an identical injury report to Sunday’s win in Charlotte, with Trae Young (left calf contusion), John Collins (left ankle sprain), De’Andre Hunter (right knee soreness), Danilo Gallinari (right foot soreness), Tony Snell (right ankle sprain), Cam Reddish (right Achilles soreness) and Kris Dunn (right ankle surgery) all out. The Raptors were missing plenty of firepower, as well: Kyle Lowry (rest) and Fred VanVleet (left hip flexor strain).
3. The ending to the first half was one of the best buzzer-beating plays you’ll see. An inbounding Solomon Hill heaved a full-court pass to Kevin Huerter, who jumped to catch the ball a few feet from the basket and, while still in mid-air, immediately tossed up a shot, which gave the Hawks a 66-54 lead at halftime. The whole thing took 0.6 seconds. Huerter finished with 17 points and four assists, and Hill added seven points.
4. Bogdan Bogdanovic led the Hawks with 23 points and accounted for nearly half of the team’s 3-pointers, going 5-for-8 from 3-point range (the Hawks overall went 13-for-30, or 43.3%). Bogdanovic is on a hot shooting streak in April, averaging 21.6 points (shooting 51.7% from 3-point range) over the past eight games.
5. Clint Capela continues to dominate on the boards for the Hawks. He anchored the Hawks on defense and had 19 points and 21 rebounds (five offensive) in his 36th double-double. “I definitely feel and know that I’m the best rebounder in the league,” said Capela, who leads the league in rebounding and is in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. “So I just go out there and do what I do every night. It’s not just one game or two, I just try to be really consistent every night about my production in a way to help this team to win.”
AP
AP
Stat of the game
5-for-7 (what Toronto’s Malachi Flynn shot from 3-point range in the fourth quarter to narrow it to a two-point game, though the Hawks were able to overcome the scoring burst)
Star of the game
Bogdan Bogdanovic (led the Hawks with 23 points and continued his strong shooting stretch, going 5-for-8 from 3-point range)
Quotable
“Honestly, I thought they were about to do to us what we did to them last time in this building. ... But at the end of the day, a win’s a win.” (Kevin Huerter on the Hawks’ prior win vs. Toronto when they scored 37 points in the fourth quarter).
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