TORONTO _ The Hawks are not just digging holes.
They are digging canyons.
For the second straight game, the Hawks trailed by 37 or more points. It was another deficit from which they could not recover. The Hawks trailed by as many as 44 points in a 128-84 loss to the Raptors Saturday night. They trailed by as many as 37 points in a lopsided loss to the Pistons on Friday.
The plummet to new depths continues.
The Hawks (10-11) have lost six straight and nine of 10 games. They played without leading scorer Paul Millsap for the third straight game but that seemed to make little difference as the team's offensive woes are far greater than missing one player.
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 15 points and six assists. Dwight Howard had 10 points and 17 rebounds. The Hawks center has a total of just 12 points over the past two games. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 12 points.
The Raptors (14-6) won their sixth straight with eight double-digit scorers. DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 21 points. Patrick Patterson finished with 17 points, including four 3-pointers. Kyle Lowry also had 17 points.
The Hawks led by five points, 13-8, in the first quarter before the Raptors went on a 12-0 run. They would never trail again after taking back the lead.
The Raptors blew open the game in the second quarter. They outscored the Hawks 32-25 on the strength of 5 of 8 shooting from 3-point range. They finished with 13 3-pointers and tied a franchise record with more than 10 3-pointers in six consecutive games.
