Hawks Beat Raptors 111-89
Posted December 11, 2009 10:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Joe Johnson scored 20 points and had five assists as the Atlanta Hawks dominated the Toronto Raptors for the second time this season, 111-89 at Air Canada Centre on Friday night.
Jamal Crawford and Maurice Evans each had 15 points and Zaza Pachulia had 14 for Atlanta before an ACC crowd of 17,032.
Toronto had 17 points from Andrea Bargnani, 14 from Chris Bosh, 13 from Jarrett Jack and 12 from Hedo Turkoglu.
The Hawks are 16-6 for the season and the Raptors who lost for the second successive game after winning three in a row are 10-15 and heard some boos on Friday.
The game was the second of four meetings between the teams this season. The Hawks trounced the Raptors 146-115 in Atlanta on Dec. 2, the second highest point total conceded by the Raptors in franchise history.
The Hawks have won four in a row over the Raptors going back to last season.
Johnson led the Hawks in scoring even though he didn’t play in the fourth quarter, logging 28 minutes for the game.
Antoine Wright hit a buzzer-beating floating jumper from 22 feet at the end of the first quarter to bring the Raptors to within two points at 29-27.
The Hawks dominated the latter part of the opening quarter after the Raptors opened an 18-10 lead after point guard Jack made the free throw on a technical foul against Atlanta coach Mike Woodson with 3:59 to play.
Raptors point guard Jose Calderon, who has been out with a hip injury, made his first appearance of the game with 2:57 left in the first quarter. He played 7:20 with two points and two assists before aggravating the injury. He did not play in the second half.
The Hawks quickly opened a 42-33 lead with 8:44 left in the second quarter and it was up to 57-41 with 4:08 left.
Evans, who was 3-for-3 on three-pointers, and Johnson each scored 13 first-half points to help put the Hawks into a 61-48 lead at the intermission.
Bargnani, back after missing one game with an ankle injury, led Toronto in the first half with 11 points and Jack had 10 points with one assist.
Atlanta continued to control the game early in the second half quarter, and Johnson had 20 points and five assists by the time the Hawks opened a 75-55 lead with 5:49 left in the third.
