WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
Valanciunas double-double sparks 108-93 Raptor win
Jonas Valanciunas grabs one of 13 rebounds, to go with 16 points, and keeps John Collins of the Hawks at arm’s length in Wednesday night’s game in Atlanta. The win moves Raptors coach Dwane Casey closer to a trip to the all-star game.
> RAPTORS 108 > HAWKS 93
ATLANTA— Three long days here for that?
After their longest break of the regular season so far — an off day and two days of working on fine-tuning parts of their game — the Raptors wasted no time in exerting their dominance over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, rolling to a 10893 victory in front of vast expanses of empty seats at Philips Arena.
Dispelling any concerns that some rust may have developed over the extended time off, the Raptors got off to a quick start and made easy work of the Hawks, running their record to 32-14 and moving Dwane Casey a step closer to being a coach in next month’s all-star game.
All the Raptors need is one more win in their next six games to ensure Casey will become the first coach in franchise history to work the midseason showcase. With Boston’s Brad Stevens ineligible after coaching last year, even if Toronto remains behind the Celtics, Casey and his staff would get the nod.
It was one of the more dull affairs that fans will see in the regular season as the Raptors took control of the game in the first minutes and never took a step back.
They led by 12 after a quarter, by 19 at halftime and by 20 going into the fourth quarter. The Hawks never led. Toronto’s backup group of C.J. Miles, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright rolled the lead to 32 points in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
No starter had to play more than the 28 minutes Kyle Lowry put in. DeMar DeRozan only had to go 27 and the starters, except for OG Anunoby, watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench.
It’s hard to say just how well the Raptors played because the 14-33 Hawks were dead from the opening tip, but Toronto’s business-like performance was a professional win by a superior team.
VanVleet finished with 19 points to lead the Raptors, who also got 16 points and 13 rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas, who has averaged a double-double in three wins over Atlanta this season.
DeRozan and Lowry were far from dominant — a combined 7-for-22 from the field for 23 points — but they didn’t have to be since the Hawks offered token resistance to anyone in a Toronto uniform.
Dennis Schroder led Atlanta with 20 points.
The Raptors also had a solid shooting night from three-point range, with VanVleet nailing four and Lowry chipping in with three.
Of the long-range shooters they need to get going, Anunoby had his first game of multiple three-pointers made since late December, Serge Ibaka drilled two in the first half and Siakam missed the only one he took.
All were shooting with Casey’s blessing. He’s not about to take away the green light to fire at will from any of them.
“I don’t think you can,” he said. “It becomes a mental game. It’s something guys have to work on. There’s different things you can do if you don’t feel your shot, but I don’t think you can ever tell a guy ‘don’t shoot the ball,’ especially when you say you’re going to be a three-point shooting team.
“It’s going to hit, it’s going to click. Those guys have shot the ball well before and they shot them in practice, so that’s what you have to live with when you’re developing a threepoint shooting mentality and threepoint shooting team.”