Hawks claws Raptors, 100-87

TORONTO, ON — The Atlanta Hawks moves up to 16-6 after defeating the Toronto Raptors, 100-77, Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre.

Joe Johnson had the hot hand as he lead his team with 30 points for 13 of 18 shooting including 3 of 5 from behind the arc. No one from the Toronto squad that could stop Johnson so the Hawks went on a frenzy to beat the Raptors for the seventh consecutive time.

“Joe is the head of the snake with us and our guys understand their roles as far as what their jobs and responsibilities are, they have the open shots, they take their shots. But when we’re playing and we start playing together really distributing the basketball among one another, we become very tough to defend because we take out some of the predictability of what we do,” said Hawks head coach Larry Drew.

Tracy McGrady showed that he can still play great games as he sparked off the bench with 15 points for 5 of 7 shooting and grabbed four boards. Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Jeff Teague each scored 10 points for the Hawks.

“I still can play! I can play and I’m just trying to give this team a little boost off the bench. Some veteran experience and glad I can make plays and make the game a lot easier for these guys,” said McGrady on his great performance.

On the other hand, only two Raptors scored in double digits. Jerryd Bayless led them with 14 points while Ed Davis added 11 points off the bench.

The Raptors moves down to 7-15 in the standings and tied the New Jersey Nets.

Toronto will be facing the Bosto Celtics this Wednesday while the Hawks will return home to battle the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.

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Posted by Johndel Kaye Patrick Callora on Feb 1 2012. Filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.