This past Friday the 20th of Feb. 2015 we saw the 37-17 Toronto Raptors playing the 43-12 Atlanta Hawks in the 4th game of their 4 game series, with the game played at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and tip-off was at 7:30 PM ET.
The scoring by both teams in the 1st quarter indicating that this could be a very close game with the Raptors scoring 26 points and the Hawk also scoring 26 points, in the 2nd quarter the Raptors outscored the Hawks by 4 points as the game went to half-time with the Raptors 49 and the Hawks 45. In the 3rd quarter of the 2nd half the Raptors outscored the Hawks by 15 points, thus the score at the end of the 3rd quarter was Raptors 77 and the Hawks 58. In the 4th and final quarter the Raptors outscored the Hawks again by 6 points 28-22 and the final score of the game was Toronto Raptors 105 and the Atlanta Hawks 80.
In the Raptors game in the 2nd half of the NBA season they rout the Hawks in what they titled the battle of the East top teams, and the leading scorers for the Toronto Raptors were; Guard-Williams-26 points off the bench, guard-DeRozan-21 points, forward Johnson 11 points, guard-Lowry-10 points, center-Valanciunas-8 points and forward-Johnson-7 points.
For the Atlanta Hawks the leading scorers were; Guard-Karver, guard-Teague and forward-Milsap all three players with 11 points, guard-Bazemore-10 points off the bench, guard-Mack-9 points of the bench.
These two teams are the top teams in the East, and with this win over Atlanta, the Raptors proved they are a team to watch in their conference. However, the Hawks are still 5 ½ games ahead of the Raptors, and this win for the Raptors gave them a 3-1 series win margin over the Hawks, and there is no other team that has beaten the Hawks 2 consecutive times this season.
In the last game they played against the Hawks at their home field, the raptors were embarrassed as the Hawks routed Toronto 110-89 back on the 16th of January 2015. Remembering that game, it was the goal to do the same to the Hawks on their home court, and that was to embarrass them with their home fan base.
In this win over Atlanta Toronto basically won the game with their defense stealing the ball some 15 times and making 37 defensive rebounds in the game. It also did not hurt them when their backup guard Williams made 7 of his 10 three point’s shots and had a total of 26 points for the game.
This loss for the Atlanta Hawks was their 4th loss in their ultimate 7 games after coming off a streak, and historic run that lasted for some 19 games. One of the main reason for the Hawks failures in this game with the Raptors became a twister game, as Atlanta lost or turned over the ball on almost 25% of their possessions, of which that turned into some 30 points for Toronto.
The Hawks were not the only team to be routed on Friday night as Cleveland also beat the Wizards 127-89 in their 1st game to start the 2nd half of the 2014-15 NBA Season. Also the Heat had an easy win against the New Orleans Hornets as they cruised in the win 111-87.
If you Bet on NBA at an Sportsbook, and you’re a Raptors or Hawks fan, the for your information the Raptors travel to Houston to play the rockets today, and the Hawks travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks, so enjoy the games and the 2nd half of the 2014-15 NBA Season.