Going inside the Hawks' 126-115 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night:
1. Hawks defensive problems flare up against top teams
Coming off a pivotal win against a very good Washington Wizards team, the Atlanta Hawks returned to Philips Arena with an opportunity to improve to 8-6 and start pushing the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference in the standings. The problem, of course, was that the win was going to have to come against a two-loss Raptors team that is the middle of its most dominant stretch in franchise history. The Hawks kept the first matchup close enough in Canada, but it's clear there remains a degree of separation between Atlanta and the NBA's top teams.
The Hawks are now 1-5 against teams currently holding a .500 record or better.
Once again, it was the Hawks' inability to come up with stops that continued to plague them as they tried to scratch and claw their way back into this one. The loss marked the third time in the first 14 games that an opponent has eclipsed the 120-point mark (Cavaliers, Hornets, Raptors) and that's going to continue to be the main question surrounding this team. It's getting repetitive, but it's an accurate recap.
"What'd they have, 126 points? It's hard not to consider it a step back defensively. But I think they played well. They executed well. They made tough shots. They got to the free throw line, which is a strength of theirs. If they do it night after night after night, you have to be aware of it, you have to do a better job of keeping them off the free throw line. But our defense was not where it needed to be."
It didn't help that defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha missed the game due to illness, because Toronto's perimeter was relentless. DeMar DeRozan was held in check during the first meeting (15 points on 4 of 16 shooting), but this time it was different. Even with the Hawks' best perimeter defender, DeMarre Carroll, draped over him, DeRozan scored a game-high 27 points and continually reached the charity stripe.
Of course, a .500 record will all but guarantees the Hawks another playoff appearance in what is a down Eastern Conference, but they'll need to shore up their defensive efforts if they want this gap to decrease.
2. Toronto's Lou Williams torches former team in return to Atlanta
Back in June, the Hawks traded Atlanta native and fan favorite Lou Williams in a strictly financial move. The trade brought back veteran guard John Salmons, who the team immediately waived in order to save around $6 million of cap space this season.
"My time here in Atlanta, I realized that they were going in a direction that probably didn't fit my style of play and I probably didn't fit Coach Bud's style of play," Williams said at the time of the deal. "I'm a guy that needs the ball to be effective and they really didn't need that from me. They were building a different core of a basketball team. I felt like it worked out for both sides, they got some talented guys in making moves this offseason and I feel great about the fit that I'm in."
Fifteen games into the Raptors' season, it looks like the Williams-Salmons swap brought the early favorite for the Sixth Man of the Year above the border. Williams is just starting to hit his stride, and in his first game back in Atlanta since the deal he let the Hawks know it.
Coming off back-to-back-to-back games of 22, 36 and 17 points, Williams went off for 22 points in 26 minutes against Atlanta. They could not find an answer for him. He added three steals and two assists and, along with Greivis Vasquez, provided a spark off the bench that Budenholzer & Co. couldn't find an answer for.
"A couple times they got loose," Budenholzer said of Williams and Vasquez. "And a lot of shots were contested and tough shots. They got a huge boost from those guys coming off their bench. They had a big impact on the game. Some of them were random plays and some of them were in the flow of the offense, a little bit of both. Give both of those guys credit."
The Raptors bench outscored the Hawks' 52-27.
3. Backup point guard spot bringing up questions
With Jeff Teague in the middle of one of the better offensive stretches of his career, averaging 25.8 points per game in games over the past four games, there is, of course, a noticeable drop off when Budenholzer turns to his bench options of Shelvin Mack and Dennis Schroder. That's natural, but Teague has to rest at some point. When he does, it's looking more and more as if Schroeder is the No. 2 option -- and should be moving forward.
Schroder and Mack nearly shared a 50-50 split of bench minutes on Wednesday night with differing results. Mack played 15 minutes, scored three points on 1 for 7 shooting and didn't make a significant contribution. On the other hand, the up-and-down Schroder played 16 minutes, scored 13 points on 5 for 6 shooting to go along with six assists and five fouls. He's younger and more mistake-prone, but the numbers are looking more and more disparate. Here's how the two stack up in terms of advanced metrics this season (via Basketball Reference):
Those were the numbers entering Wednesday night's game. Don't be surprised to see the second-year Germany native seeing an increase in playing time as the season progresses.
51.2: Both teams hit exactly 51.2 percent of their shots (42 for 82), but the Raptors were more efficient in their shot selection. Toronto made four more 3-pointers and converted on seven more free throws.
84: The Hawks could not find an answer for the Raptors' backcourt. The four-man combination of Williams, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez combined for 84 points.
