The Hawks at long last tipped off their season against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night in State Farm Arena.
Atlanta deployed their expected new lineup with Kristaps Porzingis at the five to make his Hawks debut. For Toronto, it was the first time Brandon Ingram suited up for them since being acquired at the last trade deadline.
Offense was difficult early on against a long Raptors team with active hands. Their first basket wasn’t until four minutes in via a long Jalen Johnson out of bounds outlet to Zaccharie Risacher.
Dyson Daniels picked up two early fouls, and so the first substitution of the season was him going out for new acquisition Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
He made an immediate impact:
Jalen Johnson was a big reason behind the Hawks handing in the contest until the rest of the team woke up. He has a nice layoff pass to Onyeka Okongwu for a dunk below:
Towards the end of the period, the Hawks were able to string together some stops and capitalize on offense. They pulled to within two after a deep Young trey in the final seconds and they trailed 36-34 after one.
The start to the second quarter was rough, however. Atlanta’s bench unit largely struggled to get anything going, and they quickly found themselves down by 10 points.
Keaton Wallace took a spill after coming up with a steal, and he had to leave the game with a towel over his face after falling to the floor hard. Nickeil Alexander-Walker later joined him in the locker room due to injury, although his visit was brief. These incidents really symbolized the first half for the Hawks.
With most of the starters back in, the offense flowed better, and Atlanta was able to cut into the lead. Kristaps Porzingis helped by doing unicorn things on both ends of the floor:
At the half, the Hawks trailed 65-59. Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Johnson both had 12 at the break, and Trae Young added 10.
It was a chippy affair in the second half, and Dyson Daniels picked up his fifth foul in the game just a few minutes in forcing him to hit the bench for a long stretch. Atlanta kept giving up transition points off misses, and without Johnson’s stellar game, they would have found themselves a long way adrift.
Despite a decent game in the halfcourt on both ends, Toronto’s relentless pushing of the ball after Hawks misses gave Atlanta tons of fits and easy points for the foes. By the end of the third quarter, it was a 28-6 margin in fast break points for the foes.
After three quarters, the Hawks trailed 110-87.
The fourth quarter came and went, and little changed. The Hawks fell 138-118. Jalen Johnson and Trae Young both led the Hawks with 22 points. RJ Barrett was the high scorer in the game with 25.
The Hawks head to Orlando to try to bounce back on Friday.