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Sunday, November 28, 2010

{allcanada} Smith lifts Hawks over Raps

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TORONTO -- If there was a silver lining to be found in the Raptors' home loss against Atlanta, head coach Jay Triano isn't seeing it.

Josh Smith scored a triple-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists Sunday as the Hawks handed Toronto its second defeat in a row, 96-78.

"They beat us every single position, every single guy," the Raptors head coach said. "We`ve got to get better."

The Hawks won every match-up from starters to the bench and they dominated the Raptors in the second half before a crowd of 17,032 at Air Canada Centre.

Andrea Bargnani scored 14 and DeMar DeRozan added 13 for the Raptors (6-11), who shot 40 per cent from the field in posting a season-low in points. The previous low was 84, Nov. 6 at Portland.

The Raptors were only six points down at the half but were held to 11 points in the third quarter.

"Jose (Calderon), DeMar, Andrea, Sonny (Weems), I mean you go one through five," Triano said. "DeMar got outplayed by Joe Johnson, Jose got outplayed by Mike Bibby, Andrea got outplayed by Josh Smith, Sonny got outplayed by Marvin Williams, Joey (Dorsey) got out played by Al Horford.

"Nobody could score and we couldn't stop those guys and that is why you have a 20-point game."

Triano didn't stop with the starters.

"I'm not picking on our starters for being outplayed. Amir (Johnson) didn't outplay anyone on their bench either. Leandro (Barbosa) didn't."

Williams added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks (11-7), while Johnson and Horford each scored 16.

Toronto played its first game without forward Reggie Evans, who broke his right foot in Friday's loss at Boston.

"He's a big part of our team," Bargnani said. "He was playing great but that kind of stuff can happen."

"We miss him a lot," added Weems. "He brings energy, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds, he helps the team out a lot. Hopefully he'll get well soon."

The Hawks had only a 44-41 edge in rebounds but Evans is about more than rebounding. "He also takes up space, bangs against Horford and stuff like that," Triano said.

The Raptors went cold in the third quarter shooting 3-for-17 while the Hawks almost effortlessly increased their six-point lead to 14 points after Bibby hit a three-pointer, Johnson made a seven-foot running jumper and Horford followed with a turnaround jumper with 7:15 left.

Bargnani who scored nine points in the first quarter, scored none in the third and two in the fourth quarter.

"We were very short, so we had a lot of mismatches against us," Bargnani said. "And they played better than us."

The Hawks took a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter. DeRozan's driving layup with six minutes left in the game cut the lead to 16 points but Bibby responded with a three-pointer.

Johnson's layup with 4:30 left in the game put the Hawks ahead 92-69.

"I just try to give a ton of energy on every possession," Smith said. "My offence wasn't really clicking today but I had an opportunity to be able to exploit and showcase my passing abilities and my defensive play."

Notes: F Peja Stojakovic did not suit up for the Raptors because of a swollen left knee that forced to miss practice on Saturday and became worse on Sunday. ... There is no timeframe for the return of Evans from a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot (also known as a Jones fracture). The injury occurred during the third quarter of Friday's loss at Boston. Evans ranks third in the NBA in rebounds at 12.1 a game. ... With Evans out, Joey Dorsey started Sunday at power forward. ... Washington visits Toronto on Wednesday.

 

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