TAMPA, Fla. – Atlanta rookie Brandon Goodwin canned three free throws in the final 15 seconds as the Hawks held off a fierce Toronto Raptors rally, 108-103, on Tuesday night in Amalie Arena. The Hawks seemingly had the game in hand after a Clint Capela dunk gave them a 105-91 advantage with 2:38 to play.
However, Raptors rookie point guard Malachi Flynn torched the Hawks in the final two and a half minutes as he hit four triples, three inside of 1:04. The fourth brought Toronto to within 105-103 before Goodwin sealed the win.
“He was pretty much our offense down the stretch,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “You get to the point where you say we might as well go for it and got out there and banged those down.”
Toronto’s Pascal Siakam led all scorers with 30 points as he made 13 of 19 shots. His midrange game was on fire as he scored 10 points in the final 2:39 of the first half to keep the Raptors within striking distance.
Bogdan Bogdanovic continued to his hot offensive streak as he led Atlanta with 23 points, including five threes. Bogdanovic and Kevin Huerter combined for 12 of 14 points early in the third quarter after a quick Toronto start saw the Raptors cut the 66-54 Hawks halftime lead to six in the first minute and a half of the third quarter.
The Raptors, who were without Kyle Lowry as he continues to miss games for rest, had 15 from OG Anunoby and 13 from recently acquired Khem Birch.
“I think any minutes that those guys have are valuable,” said Nurse. “We are still trying to grow OG and his offensive repertoire and it’s good for Malachi to get 30 minutes.”
Atlanta is a solid 4-seed in the Eastern Conference as of now as the Hawks continue to hold off Miami and Charlotte in the Southeast Division.
Clint Capela had 19 while Goodwin, a rookie from Florida Gulf Coast who is on a two-way contract, scored a career-high 18 points.
Although, he missed a pair of clutch free throws late in the game, Goodwin and Bogdanovic went back-to-back from three to put the Hawks up 103-89 with 4:18 remaining.