Raptors seek to keep streak alive against Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks hope to get two key pieces of their starting lineup back on Saturday when they host the Toronto Raptors, a team that has beaten them 10 straight times.

The Hawks have lost three straight games and four of their past five. Toronto posted its third straight win on Friday, 123-117 over the Brooklyn Nets.

It will be the first meeting between the Hawks and Raptors this season. Toronto swept all three games against Atlanta last season. The Hawks haven’t beaten the Raptors since March 10, 2017.

The Hawks played without their two of their three leading scorers in Thursday’s 112-91 loss to the Utah Jazz, and there’s no guarantee either will return on Saturday. Trae Young (first at 26.6 points) missed the game with a right thigh bruise and De’Andre Hunter (third, 17.2) missed his third straight game with right knee soreness. Without them the Hawks shot a season-low 32.7 percent from the field.

“We looked like a team that’s missing a lot of offensive power and depth,” Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said. “If you’re shooting 30 percent for the game, it’s going to be hard to win, and it caught up to us in the second half.”

Atlanta continues to have trouble when Young is resting or injured. The Hawks started veteran Rajon Rondo at point guard on Thursday, but he failed to score in 28 minutes. He is 0-for-11 from the field in the past two games. Rondo has played only 12 games and continues to be limited by ongoing knee issues. His offense — 3.5 points per game — has been missing, but his impact is still felt.

“What he brings, it doesn’t necessarily always show itself on the court,” Hawks forward John Collins said. “But his presence is felt. I love having ‘Do in the locker room. So shooting woes … whatever it may be … but that dude’s valuable to our team.”

This will be the third leg of a six-game road trip for Toronto, which has won the first two games. The Raptors will be finishing their third back-to-back of the season; they split one, losing the second game, and were swept in the other.

The Raptors got an unexpected boost on Tuesday from Fred VanVleet, who scored a franchise-record 54 points in Orlando. That was the most points scored by an undrafted player in NBA history, according to Elias Sports Bureau. VanVleet made a career-best 11 3-pointers in the effort.

“I thought early on that the ball was coming off his hands so easily and the deep shots looked like there was hardly any effort,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “There was something that was making them fly off so comfortably. Whenever he shot them it seemed like a free-throw-line attempt.”

On Friday night, the Raptors got a season-high 33 points and 11 rebounds from Pascal Siakam, who scored 30-plus for the third time in four games. Kyle Lowry added a season-high 30 points and seven assists against the Nets. He needs 12 rebounds to tie Amir Johnson for fourth place on the team’s all-time list.

–Field Level Media

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