Norman Powell Pushes His Toronto Raptors to a Win Over the Atlanta Hawks, 122-115

The Toronto Raptors are heading home to Canada with a win posted over the young Atlanta Hawks in Georgia. NBA champs won tonight’s event with 122-117, after an interesting game and mostly thanks to Norman Powell.

Toronto’s shooting guard delivered 17 points in the final period, when the game was on the line, hitting four threes and being unstoppable. Coming into this sequence, the Raptors had a one-point lead, before extending it to 112-91, and in the end, allowing the hosts to come down to just two points, with half a minute to go.

Norman Powell is taking over! 🔥🔥

He has 15 PTS in the 4th QTR! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/vGj35qZMb6

— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 20, 2020

Fred VanVleet scored the last 8 points for the Raptors to seal this event, which wasn’t naive at all, as many believed before its start.

The Raptors opened this event with a 7-0 series, which forced the Hawks’ head coach Lloyd Pierce to call for a timeout. It wouldn’t be long until the home team managed to pull themselves together, but still, the guests from Canada anded the first sequence in their favor, 36-25.

Atlanta created the swing in the second, to erase the deficit, and to turn the game upside down. The result at the halftime as 60-57 for the home team who was playing much better. The Hawks kept the distance in the third, all the way up until the end of the sequence, but that wasn’t enough for the win, mostly because of the above mentioned Powell.

Fantastic Trae Young once again showcased his skillset, dropping 42 points with 15 assists and 6 boards, whooting free throws 18-for-21. John Collins had 17 with 11 rebounds, and DeAndre Hunter and Cam Reddish had 13 each.

After two wins against the Suns and the Spurs on the road, the Hawks allowed 136 points against Detroit and tonight 122, posting two defeats. At the moment, they have 10 wins and 34 defeats and are dead last in the Eastern Conference.

Powell had 27 points in 23 minutes, shooting threes 6-for-9, and hitting all of his seven free throws. Meanwhile, VanVleet added 20, with 11-for-14 from the foul-stripe and behind them was Siakam with 18 and 6 boards.

Marc Gasol added 14, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 7 but with 10 boards. This was the fourth win in a row for the Raptors who are slowly getting the rhythm the team had before all those injuries.

Toronto goes back to Canada to meet the Philadelphia 76ers, and after that has a two-game journey which starts in New York against the Knicks and their new coach Mike Miller. Following that clash, the champs head for Texas, to meet Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.

As for the Hawks, they have the toughest possible opponent in the next match on Wednesday – LA Clippers. Following this event, they head for Oklahoma to meet the Thunder and come back home again to play vs. Wizards.