A standout game from Dyson Daniels on both ends of the floor wasn’t enough to save the Atlanta Hawks from suffering a 122-119 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
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Daniels had 22 points in the win, the third time in four games he has scored 20 or more, to go with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
But a poor start had the Hawks on the backfoot from the jump and while Atlanta clawed its way back to lead in the fourth, a persistent Raptors team refused to back down and went on to claim their fourth win in five games.
The Hawks fell behind early on the back of a lacklustre first quarter, particularly on defence, giving up 35 points on 61 per cent shooting as Toronto jumped out to a 35-25 lead.
To make matters worse, Atlanta then lost one of its more disruptive defenders in Jalen Johnson after he exited the game early in the second quarter with a left shoulder injury.
Johnson had already been dealing with a right shoulder injury that sidelined him for five games before he was cleared to play in last Saturday’s match-up against Boston.
He immediately went to the locker room on Friday and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the game.
At that point it was an even bigger hill left for the Hawks to climb, even against one of the league’s weakest teams, but Daniels helped inspire an Atlanta fightback.
While the Raptors still led 65-59 at halftime, it would have been a much bigger margin if it wasn’t for Daniels, who was not only making timely stops but also leading the scoring with 15 points for the Hawks.
What was particularly promising was the way Daniels aggressively pushed the pace and got to the rim, either laying it in or getting his mid-range floater going.
Daniels’ 15 points were a career-high mark in a half for the Australian, while he also had five assists, four rebounds and two steals in a highly productive half on both ends for the Hawks guard.
Unfortunately for Atlanta, a flat start to the third quarter — particularly on defence — allowed the Raptors to quickly regain momentum and push the lead back out to 74-61.
If there is anything, or specifically anyone, that looked like lifting the Hawks off the canvas it was Daniels.
The Australian would have had his third steal of the game early in the third quarter when he picked off a bad pass from Gradey Dick, only for Jakob Poeltl to be called for a loose ball foul before the Hawks guard got his hands to the ball.
But even if it didn’t count it was yet another deflection to add to Daniels’ tally and it didn’t take long for the 21-year-old to bring up his third steal of the game, quickly turning it into two points on the other end.
“Dyson Daniels is something else,” NBA Hall of Famer and Atlanta commentator Dominique Wilkins said, later adding that it was Daniels “keeping the Hawks in this”.
It was Daniels’ 23rd game this season with at least three steals, marking the most such games by a Hawk in a single season since 1997-98 (Mookie Blaylock, 30).
Still, even after that transition bucket from Daniels the Hawks were trailing 78-69.
Atlanta was able to get it back to 94-89 entering the final quarter before going up 105-103 for its first lead of the game since the Hawks were ahead 8-7 early in the first, with Bogdan Bogdanovic making a few splash plays including one 3-pointer and an emphatic dunk.
The Raptors later regained the lead (118-115) but the Hawks were quick to close the gap as Daniels continued to impress with his touch at the rim, getting the floater to fall again.
Toronto had a chance to push its lead beyond one possession entering the final 30 seconds with a 120-119 but Scottie Barnes missed.
Daniels then secured the crucial defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the court to Trae Young immediately before then hustling on the offensive glass to give the Hawks a second-chance following a missed 3-pointer from Young.
But the Hawks couldn’t capitalise and went down in the end.
WEMBY DELIGHTS IN EPIC RETURN TO PARIS
Earlier, Victor Wembanyama delighted his home crowd in Paris by scoring 30 points and grabbing 11 rebounds as he led the San Antonio Spurs to a 140-110 rout of the Indiana Pacers.
The 21-year-old 7ft 3in (2.21m) centre took control of the game in a third-quarter performance when the Spurs roared into a 23-point lead.
Wembanyama was playing in the French league a year and a half ago before his selection as the number one pick in the 2023 draft set him on the path to global stardom.
Returning to France with the Spurs for the first time, Wembanyama’s first block of the game brought roars from the 15,935 crowd at a sold-out the Bercy Arena, where he helped France win the men’s basketball silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year.
There was an even bigger cheer when he scored his first points 4min 30sec into the game from a shot from the lane.
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The first of two regular-season games in the French capital this week was watched by a host of former NBA stars including French four-time champion Tony Parker, his former San Antonio teammates Manu Ginobili and David Robinson, as well as Pau Gasol and the legendary Oscar Robertson.
Paris Saint-Germain footballers Ousmane Dembele and Achraf Hakimi and Super Bowl winner Odell Beckham Jr. were also on hand to enjoy the action.
They saw Wembanyama drive Spurs to a 103-80 lead in the third quarter with three rejections in a row, two assists and a thunderous dunk, bringing the crowd to the feet to chant “MVP, MVP, MVP”.
His teammate Devin Vassell contributed 25 points for the Spurs who could afford to bench Wembanyama and his fellow starters with five minutes remaining. They moved to a 20-22 record for the season and stay in contention for the play-in tournament.
Bennedict Mathurin top-scored for the Pacers with 24 points. The Spurs meet the Pacers again on the same court on Sunday.
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