Lowry steals the show for Raptors
ATLANTA — Kyle Lowry found his game and the Toronto Raptors finished this road trip 3-1 with a workmanlike 124-108 win over the cold-shooting Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
Lowry, the NBA’s assists leader, picked up 17 more as part of his 11th triple-double as a Raptor, by far the most in franchise history, and ex-Toronto star Vince Carter eclipsed the 25,000 career points mark on — what else? — a slam dunk just before the buzzer.
Lowry got a lot of help from big men Jonas Valanciunas, Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka, who each scored in double figures and helped Toronto dominate the boards, while Atlanta bricked its way out of the game, hitting just 5-of-25 three-point attempts before nailing five of the next 11 once the result was academic.
Lowry had been struggling with his jump shot over the past week, but found the range and also consistently found Valanciunas on the pick and roll. Valanciunas had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone as Toronto built a 55-44 advantage in a game that started in ugly fashion, with both teams missing 14 combined shots to begin the game before Lowry connected on a couple.
The young, rebuilding Hawks, including flashy point guard Trae Young who was kept in check, struggled to score, aside from veteran Jeremy Lin, who had 26 points.
Carter needed to score 13 points to get to 25,000 for his career (nearly 10,000 of them came while with Toronto), but managed only seven until a late flourish, with his Hawks teammates force feeding him the ball.
Carter clanked a pair of three-pointers inside of the final minute, hit a couple of free throws, missed a short jumper, then received a dish for the jam.
The Raptors outplayed Atlanta in every facet of the game, allowing their Southern swing to finish in fine fashion.
After falling in overtime on Friday against rival Boston (a team that has since fallen on its face in spectacular fashion), the Raptors pummelled Chicago, beat up-and-coming Orlando at the buzzer and manhandled the Hawks to move to 15-4.