ATLANTA — Jeff Teague scored 23 points, Kyle Korver added 14 and the Atlanta Hawks held off the Toronto Raptors for a 95-87 victory on Thursday night.
It was one of the season's best performances for the Hawks, who remained in third place in the Eastern Conference by beating the East's No. 2 seed.
With Paul Millsap scoring 13 points and Al Horford, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mike Scott each adding 11, Atlanta used a balanced attack to knock off Toronto for the first time in four tries this season.
The Hawks have won 16 of 21 and are a half-game ahead of Boston for the third spot in the East. Toronto dropped 3½ games behind first-place Cleveland.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each finished with 16 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 13 for the Raptors. Toronto has dropped two of three.
The Hawks took their biggest lead at 14 on Horford's 3-pointer early in the fourth. DeRozan's runner pulled Toronto within three at the 4:10 mark and Lowry missed a 3 that would've tied it with 3:03 remaining.
Valanciunas hit a free throw to make it a two-point game in the final minute, but Teague followed with a three-point play — Atlanta's first field goal since the 6:01 mark — to put the Hawks up 91-86 with 48 seconds left.
Millsap and Teague each hit a pair of free throws in the last 21 seconds to close out the win.
Atlanta never trailed after Thabo Sefolosha's 3 made it 13-11 early in the first.
HE'S BACK
Raptors F DeMarre Carroll returned from right knee surgery after missing 41 games. Before getting hurt, he averaged 11.7 and 4.8 rebounds in 23 games. Carroll, in the first season of a four-year, $60 million contract after playing the last two seasons for Atlanta, entered the game in the second quarter, played parts of the third and fourth and finished with five points in 14 minutes.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Missed a second straight chance to win their 23rd road game and set a regular-season franchise record. Toronto has 22 road victories for three straight seasons and has chances left this season at New York and Brooklyn. ... Dropped to 16-7 against the East's current top eight seeds.
Hawks: Starting G Kent Bazemore missed the game with an injured right knee. Sefolosha, starting in his place, scored 10 points.
UP NEXT
Raptors: Host Indiana on Friday.
Hawks: Host Boston on Saturday.
