ATLANTA -- Following a preseason full of promise and excitement over what is supposed to be the best roster yet surrounding Trae Young, the Atlanta Hawks were crushed by the Toronto Raptors 138-118 in their season opener Wednesday night.
After his team was outscored 86-56 in the paint, 34-11 in fastbreak points and was outrebounded by 20, Young didn't mince words about the Hawks' season-opening dud at home.
"I don't think there's too many positives you can take from tonight," Young said. "It's embarrassing the way we started it. A lot of it comes from the preseason, obviously it carried over, we didn't play all five of us. You could tell by the continuity we had out there, it wasn't right.
"But the cream always rises to the top. We got some time to make it up and got to get going."
Young had 22 points and 5 assists but missed 6 of 7 3-point attempts. Jalen Johnson was a bright spot offensively for the Hawks with 22 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in his first game since undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in early February.
Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in his Hawks debut. But reigning Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels got into early foul trouble and finished with 4 points while new Hawk Nickeil Alexander-Walker shot just 2-for-15 and finished with 10 points.
The Hawks are a squad that many believe will be much improved and have a chance to be a top team in the East. Coach Quin Snyder said there are a lot of things the Hawks need to clean up, especially getting back on defense.
"Rotation's got to be better," Johnson said. "It's not too much that we got to overthink. We just got to be better than we were tonight. Simple as that."
The Raptors, meanwhile, set a franchise record for points on opening night and surpassed last season's high.
Toronto's RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes each hit nine shots and combined to score 47 points as the Raptors shot 56.8%.
The Hawks have a brutal start to the regular season with nine of their first 14 games on the road. The first road test comes at Orlando on Friday before Atlanta returns home to host the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.
"I got to figure out how we need to jell together," Young said of the Hawks' new pieces. "Where they like the ball on offense and things like that. So, we need time to jell. But obviously we want results right away. I mean this is a what have you done for me lately type of league, too.
"So, we got to get it right and our team's going to be right, trust me."