TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points but got little help from his teammates as the Toronto Raptors were scorched 110-89 by the red-hot Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

Al Horford scored 22 points to lead the Hawks (32-8), who stretched their league-high winning streak to 11 games.

Kyle Lowry finished with 11 points, while James Johnson scored 17 off the bench for Toronto (26-13).

The Hawks' starters outscored the Raptors' by a whopping 75-53 margin, in a game that was a good gauge for how much work Toronto still needs to do.

The Raptors had beaten Atlanta twice previously this season, 109-102 in their season-opener, and 126-115 in Atlanta on Nov. 26.

But Atlanta is playing at an entirely different level now, and trounced the Raptors with clinical precision, and strength at every position.

"(Horford) is healthier, the ball is clicking well, and one of the other things is they're making shots, they're better defensively, they're tied in, they've just gotten better being together from that standpoint," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said pre-game. "They've just kind of clicked, they're just in that groove right now that's impressive."

The Raptors began the night trailing the East-leading Hawks by four-and-a-half games, in third place.

They knew they were in for a rough night against the league's hottest team, which had also clobbered Washington -- one of the East's top teams -- last week. They weren't wrong as the Raptors trailed almost from the opening whistle, fell behind by as many as 24 points in the third quarter, and went into the fourth down 85-68.

A basket by Lowry on Toronto's first possession cut the difference to 15 points. But the Hawks quickly snuffed out any hopes of a Raptors' comeback, taking a 26-point lead on a bucket by Paul Millsap with 5:45 to play in front of a disgruntled Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800 that included Toronto FC's newest acquisition Jozy Altidore and Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.

The ugliness continued and by the time Greivis Vasquez drained a three with 1:26 to go to cut Toronto's deficit to 19 points, many fans had already left the building.

Casey talked pre-game about the importance of protecting the ball, but the message seemingly went unheard by his players, who had already coughed up the ball 14 times before halftime. They would give up 24 points on 19 giveaways overall.

The Raptors wore their purple jerseys as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations, and honoured former Raptor Muggsy Bogues with a video tribute during a timeout. Bogues, who travels the world doing promotional work for the NBA, said the Raptors are situated well in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

"The Raptors have a really good opportunity to come out of the East if they continue to keep grinding, continue to keep getting better, on both ends of the floor," Bogues said. "What they've got now, they've proven they can beat anybody they play against, it's just a matter of going out there and doing it."

The Raptors got off to a messy start, shooting just 32 per cent in the opening quarter. But they managed to keep the deficit in single digits and trailed 24-19 heading into the second.

The Hawks stretched their lead to 11 points before the Raptors' second unit cut the lead to five. But Atlanta ended the first half with an 11-2 run to put the Hawks up 52-38.

DeRozan had 13 points in the third quarter, but it wasn't enough to carry a Raptors squad that couldn't pull to within closer than 14 points in the frame.

The Raptors end their six-game homestand on Sunday when they host the New Orleans Pelicans.