Taken a step further - a team built around the ball-dominant talents of a player like Young, who gives little on defence - has painted itself into a corner when it comes to squeezing every ounce out of a roster. Those who watch them on a regular basis would say they just donвЂ™t compete often enough or hard enough when they do. They are 0-8 when they give up 130 or more. The Hawks have given up 120 points or more 20 times and are 2-18 when they do. The Raptors have lost just six games by 10. They rank 29th in the league in offence, 26th on defence and have lost an NBA-high 21 games by 10 points or more. They lost by 33 to a fast-sliding Detroit Pistons team on Saturday night.

Once the team bus arrived the odds were overwhelmingly in TorontoвЂ™s favour as the 10-win Hawks have often shown themselves uninterested in competing most games.

In the end it was all enough for the win that was easy at the start but hard fought after that. When Powell hit another вЂ“ this time facing up Vince Carter in isolation вЂ“ Lowry was only one of a crowd of Raptors celebrating. He almost knocked over Powell when the RaptorsвЂ™ bench-scoring machine knocked down his fourth triple of the second half to put the Raptors up nine with 7:37 to play. HeвЂ™s playing with confidence, with assertiveness that you need to be that guy on your team and heвЂ™s going to continue to get better.вЂќД«ut on an afternoon when it would have been easy for a veteran team to mail it in, Lowry was on the grind early.ДЄnd when the RaptorsвЂ™ second unit was the group that finally found enough momentum to seemingly split the game open early in the fourth quarter it was Lowry who cheered every deflection and sprinted onto the floor at the timeout to pump-up rookie Terence Davis after a big three-pointer. For 21 his usage is crazy but he can handle it right now,вЂќ said Lowry. вЂњHeвЂ™s pretty good, he has the ball in his hands a lot but heвЂ™s making the right decisions, the right plays. Young finished with 42 points and 15 assists, on paper out-playing Lowry, who stumbled after his quick start, ending up with 10 points and seven assists in just 29 minutes. He can rifle passes in traffic or lob them gently above the fray. He moves like a drop of mercury on a glass table, his feet barely touching the floor except when heвЂ™s getting ready to launch a three from anywhere inside the half-court logo. Young certainly gave the Raptors problems. Kyle Lowry shows why heвЂ™s valuable to Raptors in matchup with Trae Young вЂ“ Sportsnet.ca An explosive run by Norman Powell created a 21-point lead, but the Hawks made life miserable down the stretch with a full-court press that nearly flipped the game. Fortunately, the Hawks just arenвЂ™t very good, and the Raptors were able to stay close by forcing the issue and getting to the rim. The Raptors started strong but fell into a deep slump in the second quarter where they shot 2-of-14 from deep. One - Wild: This was not a pretty game by any means, but it was certainly entertaining. Powell having his moment | Trade tricks, rankings, and reports | MovinвЂ™ on up in the power rankingsДЎ0 things: Norman Powell goes supernova, but Raptors still nearly suffer collapse вЂ“ Yahoo!

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