Raptors Roll Over Hawks
Posted January 18, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Chris Bosh believes he’s playing the best basketball of his career right now.
With yet another superb performance Friday night, it’s tough to argue.
Bosh poured in 35 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors to their third straight victory at the Air Canada Centre on Friday, with a 89-78 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
The Raptors all-star said his confidence is at the point now where he believes he can score every time he has the ball.
“I feel like that. I’ve been saying that for two days now. . . well, three or four or five days now,” Bosh said with a laugh. “I’m feeling good, I feel very confident, I think everything is just opening up for me. I’m finally at 100 per cent.”
Anthony Parker finished with 18 points in the game that marked the first meeting between the two teams since T.J. Ford suffered a neck injury in Atlanta on Dec. 11. Jose Calderon added 13 points and nine assists for the Raptors (22-18), who won for the fifth time in the last six games.
The Raptors took a 67-60 advantage into the fourth quarter of the back-and-forth affair, but broke the game open with a solid performance in the final few minutes, holding off a brief Hawks rally.
The young Hawks pulled to within two points with just over five minutes left in the game after a three-pointer by Tyronn Lue. Parker responded with a three — one of four he had on the night — and Jamario Moon followed followed with a slam dunk to stretch Toronto’s lead back to seven.
“They made some tough shots,” said Joe Johnson, who topped the Hawks with 25 points. “I think pretty much every three they hit in the fourth had a hand in their face. I thought we played pretty good defence, they just made tough shots.”
Moon had a huge block on a shot by Johnson the next time down the court, and then Bosh was fouled on a layup and connected on the free throw to put Toronto up by 10 with 3:30 to go. It was all Raptors to the final buzzer, as Calderon had two baskets and Bosh added a layup to pad the lead in front of a capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre.
Josh Smith added 24 points for Atlanta (17-19).
The night was yet another in a string of solid performances by Bosh, who has been improving every game out after his early-season struggles — the product of a foot and knee injury. Bosh shot 12-for-18 on Friday, and went 11-for-14 from the free throw line.
Mitchell joked that he didn’t want to talk about how well Bosh is playing for fear of jinxing it.
But Parker would.
“I’m voting for him for the all-star game. I got a T-shirt ready, I’m going to bring it out,” Parker said. “It was one of those games when I looked at the end of the game and he had 35 points. He does so many things out there, and he exerts so much energy.
“He’s just put us on his back the last couple of weeks not, and that’s a huge reason why we’ve been able to string a couple of wins together.”
What pleases Mitchell most about Bosh’s play is his ability to find his teammates when he draws a double-team.
“Chris does not have to score the ball, he just has to command a double-team,” Mitchell said. “Chris is just trusting his teammates and getting the ball out.”
Calderon, who has filled in superbly in Ford’s absence, also had another strong night running the offence, as the Raptors shot 48 per cent from the field to Atlanta’s 43.
Calderon was the object of a bit of Hawks controversy. Hawks guard Anthony Johnson was ejected after elbowing Calderon in the back of the head with 41.3 seconds left in the first half.
“I didn’t see the video so I don’t know what happened exactly,” Calderon said. “But it doesn’t matter. Sometimes things happen on the court, but I don’t know what happened.”
Johnson was assessed a flagrant two foul, which comes with an automatic ejection.
The two guards were chatting at each other moments before the play, but Calderon shrugged it off afterwards.
“We were just talking about basketball, that is all,” said the Spaniard.
Toronto fans obviously didn’t forget the last time the two teams met, as they booed Atlanta rookie Al Horford during team introductions.
Ford, who hasn’t played since the injury, was driving to the basket on that night in Atlanta when he was knocked down by the Hawks rookie. Ford landed hard, his head bouncing off the floor, and was taken off the court on a stretcher before spending the night in hospital.
Ford, who averaged 14.1 points and 6.8 assists in 17 games, was cleared to resume workouts earlier this month and returned home to Houston to work out with former NBA player John Lucas.
The Raptors have gone 10-8 in Ford’s absence.
Smith was a one-man show in the first quarter, scoring 16 of the Hawks’ 22 points. Toronto led by as much as eight, and took a 27-22 lead into the second.
The Hawks cut Toronto’s lead to a point three times in the second quarter, but the Raptors held on to lead 44-39 at halftime.
Atlanta opened the third with a 13-2 run, a three by Joe Johnson giving the visitors a 52-46 lead. But Toronto outscored Atlanta 21-8 to the end of the quarter, a pair of three-pointers by Parker in the final 45 seconds sending the Raptors into the final frame with their 67-60 advantage.
