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Raptors ground and pound Hawks for sixth straight victory

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TORONTO

Pound the rock has morphed into pound opponents.

Dwane Casey’s catch-phrase used to be all about working hard, chipping away, and one day breaking through. Well, it seems a bit like that day is here.

The Raptors won a sixth straight contest, clobbering the Atlanta Hawks 128-84 to complete a rare Air Canada Centre back-to-back.

The 44-point margin was the largest in Raptors history.

Eight players hit double-figures, led by 21 from DeMar DeRozan and 17 apiece from Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson.

Atlanta came in completely discombobulated - blown out in Detroit Friday, crushed on the boards by 22 rebounds — and the Raptors jumped right on the visitors, building a 62-47 half-time edge and just kept right on rolling.

One of Casey’s toughest tasks at the moment is making sure his group is not over-confident based on all of this success.

“That’s our whole key, our charge — not get happy on the farm … We’ve got to continue it,” he had said.

“Getting beat the way they got beat last night, they’re going to come back fighting, scratching, whatever it is. We’ve got to meet that intensity.”

He seemed to be on to something earlier in the day. One would think that a desperate, win-starved team like the visitors would bring an energy and effort edge, but the Raptors, as best exemplified by rookie Pascal Siakam, who scored a career-best 14 points, worked harder and played much smarter.

Siakam, the 27th pick of last June’s draft, is starting to resemble a young Amir Johnson in the way he beats opponents down the floor for a couple of easy buckets each night. Kyle Lowry, who finally slowed down from three-point range following his recent rampage from deep, found him a couple of times, once on a fine heave from his own free throw line.

The Raptors also had ex-Hawk DeMarre Carroll — and Lowry — diving into the seats to corral loose balls, while Atlanta spent more time chucking the ball away and got thoroughly buried.

Toronto had 28 assists, which pleased Carroll.

“You make it hard for other teams to guard you by moving the ball and I feel like tonight was the best it’s been since I’ve been here,” Carroll said.

“I think we’re building on it. We’re trusting each other, guys are knocking down their shots and that’s what you have to do if you want to be a high calibre team.”

There was a time when the Raptors could not stomp on the throats of opponents and would have to battle right until the very end. What has changed?

“Maturity. Guys understanding the moment, understanding when to put your foot down, especially against a high-scoring team like Atlanta that has some weapons, that’s given us trouble before,” Casey said.

“We found the energy on both ends of the floor and put them away. That’s a good sign of maturity.”

The Raptors will now play to host to the defending champion Cleveland on Monday tied with the Cavs for first in the East, a win ahead, though Cleveland has played two fewer games.

LeBron James and his crew arrived in Toronto on Saturday and will be well-rested for the final clash between the two clubs until the end of the regular season.

Before the game, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer had lauded Lowry and DeRozan as one of the NBA’s best back-courts and had said a goal was to limit their trips to the free throw line. That worked, Atlanta actually shot more freebies, but the tired Hawks only hit half of them.

The Raptors tied a pair of gaudy team records, hitting at least 10 three-pointers for a sixth consecutive games and also topped 50% field goal shooting for a firth straight contest, compiling a ridiculous 57.6% mark.

The bench was particularly good.

“(The second unit tries to put a little more pace because sometimes the other teams are a little tired,” said Lucas Nogueira, who had 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

“So coach has asked us to run the floor, set good screens and leave somebody open. They are going to blitz Kyle and DeMar, so, we have to try to find somebody open … I think it’s great ball movement right now. Like I said, they try blitzing our best players, so it opens the floor for other players.”

Fellow Brazilian Bruno Caboclo played in consecutive games for the first time in his NBA career a night after the Raptors blew out the Los Angeles Lakers.

We shall see where the Raptors go from here.

“A coach is always looking around the corner. I’ve never gotten overly happy after a win because I can always find somewhere where we can get better at,” Casey had said.

“Staying consistent. Consistency is huge in this league. Being the same way, saying the same thing, preaching the same schemes, it’s huge. I think our guys are used to it. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

If it does, this might be a genuine contender.

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