{"id":94674,"date":"2022-04-06T08:34:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=94674"},"modified":"2022-04-06T08:34:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:34:20","slug":"raptors-clinch-playoff-spot-with-win-over-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/blog\/raptors-clinch-playoff-spot-with-win-over-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors clinch playoff spot with win over Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94675\" src=\"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1.jpg\" alt=\"milenio stadium - raptors hawks\" width=\"1040\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1.jpg 1040w, https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1-768x422.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pascal Siakam had 31 points and 13 rebounds and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/category\/desporto\/modalidades\/\">Toronto Raptors<\/a>\u00a0clinched a playoff spot Tuesday with a 118-108 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Scottie Barnes added 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Chris Boucher added 18 points, and Gary Trent Jr., finished with 14 for the Raptors (46-33) in their 12th win in 15 games.<\/p>\n<p>Fred VanVleet had 12 points, while Precious Achiuwa chipped in 11.<\/p>\n<p>With their victory and the\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers&#8217; 120-115 loss in Orlando, the Raptors can finish no worse than sixth in the East.<\/p>\n<p>Trae Young had 26 points to lead the Hawks (41-38), who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">CLINCHED! \u2705<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Raptors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@Raptors<\/a> are headed back to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@NBA<\/a> playoffs! \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WeTheNorth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#WeTheNorth<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YmVZOJ98st\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/YmVZOJ98st<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sportsnet\/status\/1511521027280588802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Raptors will host playoff games at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since the thrilling 2019 NBA championship run.<\/p>\n<p>The 2020 season ended in the Disneyworld bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Raptors were exiled to Tampa, Fla., for the following season due to Canada-US border restrictions, and health and safety rules in Ontario. They didn&#8217;t make the 2021 playoffs anyways, tumbling down the Eastern Conference in March amid a COVID-19 outbreak to finish 12th.<\/p>\n<p>Neither team dominated through the first three quarters of the see-saw battle. After briefly leading by seven points in the first half, Boucher&#8217;s three-pointer with 2:28 left in the third gave the Raptors a nine-point cushion, their biggest lead to that point. They took an 89-83 advantage into the fourth.<\/p>\n<p>Boucher connected on back-to-back threes to start the fourth quarter for a 10-point lead &#8212; the first time either team had been up by double digits. But the Raptors went stone cold. Young followed up his three-pointer with a layup to cap a 10-0 Hawks run that tied the game at 102-102 with 4:29 to play.<\/p>\n<p>Barnes scored on a putback, and VanVleet connected from long distance &#8212; just his second three on a horrible 2-for-12 three-point shooting night &#8212; and Toronto was back up by five with 1:03 to play, bringing the capacity crowd of 19,800 to its feet. Barnes laid it in with 22 seconds to play, running back down the court with a hand raised in victory.<\/p>\n<p>Bogdan Bogdanovic drained a three-pointer but it was too little too late for the Hawks, who were relegated to the play-in tournament with the loss.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors were missing starter OG Anunoby for the second straight game with a thigh contusion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Much improved, but still pretty sore,&#8221; Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors were coming off a 114-109 loss to Kyle Lowry and the Miami Heat that snapped their five-game win streak.<\/p>\n<p>Neither team led by more than seven points through the first half. Toronto was briefly up by five in the first quarter, but Young&#8217;s jumper capped a Hawks&#8217; 11-0 run to put Atlanta up by six. The Hawks led 31-27 to start the second.<\/p>\n<p>Achiuwa drove to the hoop for a huge dunk that brought the Raptors players off the bench and put them up by six points. Siakam&#8217;s stepback shot with 9.7 seconds left in the half sent Toronto into the break with a 56-52 lead.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday in what could be a playoff preview, and then Houston on Friday. They end the regular season on Sunday against the Knicks in New York.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nba\/article\/raptors-clinch-playoff-spot-with-win-over-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SN<\/a>\/MS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Pascal Siakam had 31 points and 13 rebounds and the\u00a0Toronto Raptors\u00a0clinched a playoff spot Tuesday with a 118-108 victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Scottie Barnes added 19 points and &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":94675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17411,4433],"tags":[5474],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Raptors-1040x572-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94674"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94677,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94674\/revisions\/94677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}