Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Hawks clinch playoff berth beat Raptors 107-88



Al Horford scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Jeff Teague had 24 points and 13 assists and the Hawks clinched a playoff berth for the sixth straight season, beating the Toronto Raptors 107-88 on Wednesday night.

Josh Smith scored 19 points for the Hawks, who used a 16-0 run midway through the fourth to win for the 13th time in their last 15 meetings with the Raptors.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey had suggested his team might shut down Rudy Gay after the star forward left Friday's home loss to the Knicks with a sore back, then sat out Saturday's loss in New York. Still sore, Gay started against the Hawks, scoring 15 points in 34 minutes and matching his season high with 12 rebounds.

Jonas Valanciunas scored 19 points, DeMar DeRozan had 14, Terrence Ross 13 and Alan Anderson 12 for the Raptors, who have lost four straight and 11 of 14.

Toronto forward Amir Johnson left with 10:28 left in the third with a left leg contusion. X-rays were negative but he did not return.

Toronto was outscored 55-29 after Johnson went down, leaving Casey bemoaning his team's lack of toughness.


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