Hawks Fly Over Raptors

Alan Henderson was upset about a loss two weeks ago to Toronto, so this time he took matters into his own hands.

Henderson scored a season-high 24 points and hit a big basket late in the game as the Atlanta Hawks won 86-75 Saturday night, raising their all-time record against the Raptors to 13-1.

"We knew we really had a bad loss the last time they came to town, and we didn't want that to happen again," said Henderson, whose fast-break dunk put Atlanta up 81-70 with 2:48 remaining. "They weren't going to come in here and beat us twice."

The Hawks got 17 points from Steve Smith and 16 from Dikembe Mutombo.

"I think we were determined to play better than last time," said Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens. "If we were looking for revenge, we have 29 (other NBA) teams, so we'd be doing that all year. But we wanted to play well and not make the same mistakes."

The Hawks won for the third time in four games by outscoring Toronto 31-16 at the free throw line. Smith, 7-for-7 from the line, hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter the second putting the Hawks up 71-58 with 9:47 remaining.

Doug Christie recovered from a 1-for-9 shooting night Thursday to lead the Raptors with 21 points. Rookie Vince Carter finished with 14.

The Raptors, who begin a four-game, five-night stretch Monday, lost their third game in four tries and fell to 2-8 on the road.

"We didn't come to play," Carter said. "We had a lot of missed shots. We just couldn't get it going. The easy shots we did have we didn't make."

Atlanta did not let the Raptors get closer than eight points in the final period.

Down 78-70 with 5:06 to play, the Raptors' next four possessions were disastrous. Henderson made a pai of consecutive steals, John Wallace lost the ball out of bounds, and Christie missed a free throw after Atlanta was called for illegal defense.

Wallace was ejected with 25.6 seconds to play after being called for a flagrant foul against Mutombo. Toronto was called for 32 fouls, Atlanta 19.

"Tonight, what was a foul wasn't a foul in Miami (Thursday)," Raptors coach Butch Carter said. "So I hope we are getting a reputation that we play hard."

Notes: Each team lost a starter in the first quarter. Toronto center Kevin Willis slightly sprained his left shoulder after colliding with Mutombo and left after one minute. Willis is listed as questionable for the Raptors' home game with Charlotte on Monday night. Atlanta's LaPhonso Ellis' was put on the IR with back spasms. ... Mookie Blaylock had a season-low three points ... Micheal Williams, activated from Toronto's injured list Thursday was scoreless in nine minutes ... Michael Stewart committed five fouls and was scoreless in 10 minutes for the Raptors.

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