Toronto Raptors' Cory Joseph, left, reaches for a loose ball against Atlanta Hawks' Dennis Schroder, of Germany, in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Atlanta, Friday, March 10, 2017.David Goldman/The Associated Press
Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, including 13 in the final period, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Toronto Raptors 105-99 on Friday night to pull closer in the race for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 28 points. He became the first player to score 11,000 points with the Raptors.
Atlanta won the season series 2-1 and would win a head-to-head tiebreaker if needed to determine a playoff position. Toronto is fourth in the East, two games ahead of the Hawks.
Paul Millsap had 21 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 for Atlanta.
Toronto's Serge Ibaka, who had 18 points, scored to make it 86-all, the 17th tie of the game.
Schroder then took over the game, scoring back-to-back baskets and eight of Atlanta's next 10 points in a stretch that gave the Hawks a 96-88 lead.
Schroder's run was capped by a reverse layup after he drove the baseline.
The Raptors led 75-74 entering the final period but a 3-pointer by Hardaway gave Atlanta an 81-77 lead.
Toronto quickly regained the lead. The Raptors took advantage of a turnover by Hawks rookie Taurean Price to regain the lead at 83-82 on a tip-in by Norman Powell.
Atlanta's challenging Friday traffic was blamed for an unexpected lineup change.
Coach Mike Budenholzer removed small forward Thabo Sefolosha from the starting lineup after Sefolosha, caught in traffic, was late for pregame warmups. Sefolosha had four points in 25 minutes.
Budenholzer said the lineup change was for just one game.
Hardaway replaced Sefolosha in the lineup.