Horford scores 26 in win over Raptors, sending Toronto to fifth straight loss

TORONTO – Al Horford poured in 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks clinched their sixth consecutive playoff berth Wednesday with a 107-88 win over the beleaguered Toronto Raptors.

Rookie Jonas Valanciunas scored 19 points to top Toronto (26-45), which fell apart in the fourth quarter en route to a fifth consecutive loss.

Rudy Gay returned after missing a game with a sore back to add 15, while DeMar DeRozan finished with 14. Terrence Ross chipped in with 13 points, and Alan Anderson had 12.

Jeff Teague added 24 points for the Hawks (40-32), who won for the fifth straight time at the Air Canada Centre. Josh Smith added 19 points.

The Raptors, who were coming off back-to-back losses to the New York Knicks, led for most of the night and were up by as much as 11 points in the second quarter.

But it was almost as if the Hawks had been playing with their hosts, calmly chipping away at the deficit in the third to send the game into the fourth quarter tied 75-75.

The Hawks had another gear in the fourth, turning a close game into a blowout in a matter of a few minutes as Teague scored 10 straight points to put Atlanta up by 17 with 4:39 left to go.

The ACC fans booed the Raptors off the court as the final buzzer sounded.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey had talked before the game about the team’s inability to hold on in close games.

“We’ve got to develop that ‘how to win,'” he said. “We lost so many close games, I counted like 23 close games, a lot of them we were leading going into the fourth quarter, like OK, let’s close the game. We got ourselves there, let’s finish it out.

“I don’t think we still developed that close-game identity that we needed to have.”

They proved him right Wednesday.

It was Amir Johnson bobblehead night but the Raptors big man didn’t last the entire game, leaving early in the third quarter with a left leg contusion after scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds.

Toronto shot 48 from the field and got scoring from all seven Raptors who played in the first quarter, taking a nine-point lead on a Gay driving hook shot with about four minutes to go in the quarter. The Raptors took a 25-20 advantage into the second.

Ross led the way in the second quarter with nine points, including a monstrous dunk four minutes in that brought the crowd to it feet. The Raptors went into the dressing at halftime up 54-44.

Smith and Horford combined for 10 points apiece in a third quarter that saw the visitors outscore Toronto 31-21.

NOTES: The Raptors have 11 games left on the season. . . They’re in Detroit on Friday then Washington on Sunday before returning home to host former Raptors guard Jose Calderon and the Pistons next Monday.