Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press

The Toronto Raptors suffered a 27-point loss against the Atlanta Hawks on the road (100-127). Fred VanVleet, who became an All-Star for the first time the first time in his career this season, was optimistic about Toronto’s future, despite the loss.

“We play young and dumb a lot. Sometimes we get away with it and sometimes we don’t,” VanVleet said, per Josh Lewenberg. “I believe in this team. I think we’ll be back to playing at the level that we need to be playing at, hopefully sooner than later. I take full responsibility for the poor performances and I’m looking forward to getting this team back to where we need to be.”

The 28-year-old shooting guard was the top scorer for the Raptors with 24 points in 35 minutes. This season he is averaging 21.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 38.2 minutes per game.

Toronto is currently in a playoff race. With 32 wins and 27 losses they are seventh in the Eastern Conference.