Despite Murray and Fernando’s Efforts, Hawks Lose Heartbreaker to Raptors

You really thought your Hawks were going to pull it off, didn’t you? Despite Dejounte Murray, Bruno Fernando and Jaylen Johnson efforts, in the end, it was too little, too late for the Hawks as the team took a devastating 123-121 L at home on HBCU night against Toronto.

The Hawks battled all night it was in the fourth that the Hawks managed to slice their 9 point deficit but in the final minute  Scottie Barnes landed a three pointer to put Toronto up 5 points. The fact the Raptors managed to keep Hawks star Trae Young at bay was truly the nail in the coffin. Young finished with a season-low 11 points. Toronto’s length and athleticism caused problems, especially down the stretch, which resulted in the heartbreaking loss.

You have to give credit to Bruno Fernando – the big man came to play. Despite the Hawks coming up short, Fernando made the most of his minutes off the bench, with powerful plays that ignited the crowd.

The Hawks offense seemed out of sync for most of the night against the Raptors. Coach Snyder will look to get his team back on track offensively before Sunday’s matchup against the Magic.

With a win on Sunday, the Hawks will crack their three game losing streak. The Hawks are 6-6 against opponents in the Southeast Division. Atlanta is sixth in the NBA averaging 13.7 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 36.0% from downtown. Trae squad has a lot of room for improvement. The team will need to channel the energy they lacked on defense against the Raptors if they want to get a win against the Magic, which would be a good step in the right direction.

Quin Snyder earned an ejection from the game

Coach Quin Snyder was not happy with how the Raptors were defending Trae Young. In the third quarter, center Jakob Poeltl set a screen on Young that knocked him to the floor. Snyder immediately objected and was issued a technical foul. However, he continued to express his displeasure with the officials and was ejected from the game.

Controversial Call

Snyder felt Poeltl’s screen was unnecessary and dangerous. He argued that Poeltl did not need to make solid contact and knock Young down on a screen 30 feet from the basket. The officials saw it differently and felt the contact was normal for an on-ball screen in the NBA. Snyder’s ejection left the Hawks without their head coach for the remainder of the tight game.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it. Even with Murray and Dejounte’s heroic efforts, the Hawks still came up just short against the Raptors in a real heartbreaker. You’ve gotta feel for Trae after that hard screen took him down. And you can’t blame Coach Snyder for standing up for his guy and getting tossed. But at the end of the day, the Hawks didn’t quite have enough firepower to pull out the win, despite keeping it super close. The good news is there’s always tomorrow for Atlanta to regroup and bounce back strong. We’ll see if the Hawks can grab a W on Sunday when the team heads back to State Farm arena to face the Magic. Tip-off is at 7 PM.