Career nights propel Hawks to 118-113 overtime win over Raptors
Mar 18, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) shoots the ball against the Toronto Raptors in the third quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
It was a career night for a pair of the Atlanta Hawks, Jeff Teague matched a career high with 34 points and Paul Millsap posted his first career triple-double, but it took an extra overtime period for the Hawks to get their fifth straight win, with a 118-113 win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors took an early advantage over the Hawks, while the Hawks were ice cold from the field. Despite trailing by 12 points in the first quarter the Hawks would battle back to grab the lead on multiple occasions. After the first half, the game would not swing from one side to another; neither team carried a lead larger than four in the second half or in overtime until the closing seconds. In the first half Teague led the way with 15 points on 7-12 shooting from the field. However the rest of the Hawks were ice cold shooting just 30% from the field (11-36.) Outside of shooting poorly from the field, the Hawks played a clean first half, turning the ball over just one time, while allowing just two offensive rebounds.
The Hawks would rebound and find their stroke from the field, they would go on to shoot 42.6% from the field for the game, but once again they were able to make up for the overall poor performance from the field by taking care of the ball, the Hawks finished the contest with just seven turnovers, while the Hawks scored 22 points off the Raptors 15 team turnovers.
Teague was extremely efficient from the field throughout the contest, matching his career high of 34 points, but he did it on just 18 shots. Teague was 11-11 from the free-throw line. For Millsap his 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds gave the Hawks a huge lift on multiple occasions. Kyle Korver was the only other Hawk in double figures scoring with 16 points.
The Hawks had a chance to closeout the deal in regulation with the ball in the hands of Millsap and isolation at the top of the key, but Millsap’s shot fell well short, and the Hawks had to travel to their fifth overtime game of the season where they controlled the pace and went on to close out the contest
Demar Derozan who had scored 31 points in each of the previous two meetings against the Hawks this season, fell just short of that mark again this evening with 29 points. Point guard Kyle Lowry also dropped in 20 points, and a host of other Raptors contributed double digit scoring including Amir Johnson, Terrence Ross, Grevis Vasquez, and Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors also benefited from a huge night at the free-throw line, making 26 of 29 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Raptors have now lost 10 of their last 12 contests at the Highlight Factory. With the win the Hawks have proven that they are one of the leagues streakiest team, after losing six games in a row they have now won five straight games and improve their season record to 31-35. Fortunately for Hawks fans, the Hawks are now on one of their best stretches of the season; after crawling out of their worst two-month stretch in recent memory. The Hawks will turn their attention now to the 27-39 New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.