Hawks forward Kent Bazemore controls a ball against Kyle Lowry during the fourth quarter on Friday.Nick Turchiaro
Dwight Howard had 27 points as the Atlanta Hawks exacted revenge on the Toronto Raptors with a 125-121 victory on Friday.
DeMar DeRozan had 34 points to lead the Raptors (18-8), who lost for just the second time in 12 games and first in five outings.
Kyle Lowry added 27 points, while Cory Joseph had 17, Jonas Valanciunas had 11, and Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson finished with 10 apiece.
The Raptors had humiliated the Hawks two weeks earlier in a 128-84 rout, the largest margin of victory – 44 points – in franchise history. Heading into Friday night, Raptors coach Dwane Casey had instructed his players to forget about that lopsided victory.
The Hawks clearly didn't.
With Paul Millsap back in the lineup – he'd sat out the previous meeting – Atlanta raced out to a 19-point lead in the first half, and took a 95-82 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Lowry looked intent on single-handedly dragging the Raptors back into the game, and his three-pointer with just under five minutes to play pulled Toronto to within nine points. A Ross three-pointer, a dunk by DeRozan with 3:47 on the clock, and suddenly it was just a six-point deficit.
A handful of defensive errors by the Raptors proved costly, as easy baskets by Millsap and Dennis Schroder put the Hawks up by eight with 1:22 on the clock.
A dunk by Valanciunas and a pair of baskets by DeRozan pulled Toronto to within three points with 11 seconds left, but Schroder sealed the deal for Atlanta with a free throw, much to the dismay of the capacity Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800.
Lowry tossed up a three-point attempt as the clock ticked down, the ball bounced unceremoniously off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
It was only the Hawks' fourth win against Toronto in their last 12 meetings.
The Raptors, who were coming off a 123-114 victory two nights earlier in Philadelphia, remained within a couple of points in a back-and-forth first quarter, but the Hawks hit two baskets in the final minute, to stretch their lead to 35-27 to end the frame.
A pair of Ross free throws cut the Hawks lead to just four points with 5:47 left in the first half, but a three by Kent Bazemore capped a 23-8 Atlanta run that had the Hawks up by 19 points. Atlanta led 69-52 at halftime.
DeRozan led the way with 13 points in the third quarter as Toronto pulled to within five points, but the Hawks ended the quarter with a 12-4 run.
The Raptors are in Orlando on Sunday to face the Magic, return home to host the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, then depart for a six-game road trip.