(Toronto) Pascal Siakam scored 33 points, having his best game in over a month with his three-pointers, and the Toronto Raptors defeated the Atlanta Hawks 135-128 on Wednesday.
Siakam also grabbed seven rebounds and seven assists for the Raptors, who snapped a four-game losing streak.
He hit five of his six shots from downtown, his best performance in 15 games. He made five of eight three-point attempts in a 130-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on November 1.
“I was looking at what the defense was giving me,” Siakam said. For me, it’s just continuing to believe in the work I put into my shots, and then just taking them with a little confidence. That’s all. The result afterward doesn’t matter. You have to take the shots I have to take and have the confidence.
“Anything that’s open, you have to keep taking it. We knew that this match was very important and that we had to win. We had to give everything we could. »
Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl had double-doubles in the victory. Barnes had 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Poeltl scored 15 points and grabbed 13 steals.
Trae Young had 35 points to tie his career mark this season and added 17 assists for the Hawks, who have lost five straight games. Clint Capela also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Raptors thus overtook the Hawks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference. The two teams will cross swords again on Friday, in the Canadian metropolis. Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic recognized the importance of this two-game series.
“There are no games that don’t matter in an NBA season, because at the end of the year you look back and say, ‘If we had won this game, we would be in this situation.’ I don’t want to be in this position with ifs,” the pilot said before the meeting.
“Of course, when you lose four games in a row, it’s complicated,” added Siakam after the duel. As a team, we have to try to find something positive, and victory always helps. We must continue to build on this victory and see what we can do better. »
Siakam made a 23-footer with 37 seconds left in the first half to give the Raptors a one-point lead, but Dejounte Murray responded with a three-pointer of his own to make it 66-64 in favor of the Hawks at the half.
Young already had a double-double at that point with 20 points and 11 assists.
Gary Trent Jr. scored a three-pointer in the final second of the third quarter and the Raptors led 103-95. The turnaround was largely due to Barnes and Dennis Schroder, who scored eight straight points for the Raptors.
Schroder scored more than 10,000 points in 10 seasons in the NBA with the Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Raptors.
Toronto led by 10 points in the fourth quarter, but two straight three-pointers from Bogdan Bogdanovic cut the lead to two points with 6:26 to play.
OG Anunoby completed a Siakam play to give the Raptors an eight-point lead with 36.1 seconds on the clock and the Hawks were unable to tie the game after that.