Despite a spirited late surge fueled by Risacher's breakout second half, the Hawks' early deficit and physicality struggles proved too much to overcome.
The Atlanta Hawks never fully recovered from an early deficit, falling behind quickly and spending most of the night chasing the Toronto Raptors in a 118-100 loss Monday that completed a season sweep.
The defeat underscored a recurring issue for Atlanta, which struggled to match Toronto’s physicality at both ends and never led after the opening minutes. The Raptors controlled the paint, dictated tempo and turned early separation into a wire-to-wire victory to improve to 22-15, while the Hawks dropped to 17-21.
Toronto Raptors set the tone by repeatedly getting downhill and finishing inside, outscoring Atlanta Hawks 64-44 in the paint. Toronto shot 52.2% from the field and placed seven players in double figures, creating balance that Atlanta never quite solved.
Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles delivered one of his most complete performances, scoring 17 points while adding seven rebounds and seven assists while filling in for injured starter Jakob Poeltl. Scottie Barnes orchestrated the offense with 18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, while Brandon Ingram chipped in 19 points and nine rebounds.
Atlanta, meanwhile, leaned on its depth to stay within striking distance. The Hawks had seven players score in double figures, led by Onyeka Okongwu, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Jalen Johnson posted a near triple-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, consistently pushing the pace and trying to ignite transition opportunities.
The most notable individual stretch belonged to Zaccharie Risacher, whose night took an unexpected turn early in the second half. After picking up his fifth foul just 19 seconds after halftime, Risacher played the remainder of the third quarter under constant risk of disqualification. Rather than shrinking from the moment, he produced all 16 of his points after the break.
Risacher scored on a series of strong cuts and finishes, knocked down a timely three-pointer, and sparked brief momentum swings that pulled Atlanta within single digits multiple times. One of those sequences included a defensive poke-away on RJ Barrett that led to a transition three by Okongwu, trimming the deficit to nine. Risacher later brought the Hawks within seven before fouling out, ending Atlanta’s last meaningful push.
Atlanta’s night was further complicated by its shooting struggles. The Hawks finished 35 of 89 from the field (39.3%) and 12 of 34 from three-point range, failing to capitalize on open looks during stretches when Toronto’s offense cooled.
There were flashes. Kristaps Porziņģis returned after missing the second game of a back-to-back and logged 20 minutes off the bench, scoring nine points. Early in the first quarter, after knocking knees with Jamal Shead and briefly going down, Porziņģis popped back up and later drilled a wide-open three off a pass from Luke Kennard, one of Atlanta’s few clean paint-to-perimeter sequences.
Hawks coach Quin Snyder highlighted individual contributions while acknowledging the uphill battle created by the opening stretch.
Snyder discussed Kennard and Porziņģis’ impact during his postgame remarks on the FanDuel Sports broadcast.
“Luke’s been playing well. We saw him play well again. It’s good to see. Having KP back, the ball didn’t go in for him, but I thought he took good shots and had an impact on the game. And he’s an important player for us as well.”
Snyder also pointed to the early tone and the challenge of playing from behind for extended periods.
“I think the biggest thing was just our aggression, our physicality, our defense — just like digging in at the beginning of the game,” Snyder said. “We shouldn’t have been surprised. We played them two days ago with how aggressive they are at both ends. It’s difficult when you’re playing from behind for long stretches. We had a couple times we had a chance to cut it to six late. The final score isn’t fully representative of what we did in the second half, but it is representative of how they played and how we played.”
Atlanta again played without Trae Young, who missed another game while recovering from a right quadriceps contusion, leaving the Hawks short on late-game shot creation.
The Hawks now return home to State Farm Arena on Wednesday to host the New Orleans Pelicans, a matchup carrying added edge after Pelicans center Derik Queen drew attention for a late-game play in the previous meeting that stirred tensions at the buzzer.