In the first home game of the second half of the 2014-15 season for New Orleans, on Monday night the Pelicans host one of the Eastern Conference's best teams, the Toronto Raptors. The Pelicans will try to complete a 2-0 season-series sweep over the Raptors, after prevailing in Toronto last month despite being short-handed due to injuries.
Playing without two-time All-Star power forward Anthony Davis and one-time All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday on Jan. 18, New Orleans pulled out a 95-93 victory at Air Canada Centre. Tyreke Evans scored the game-deciding basket for the Pelicans with 1.6 seconds remaining, a driving right-handed layup in which Evans had to loft the ball over three Toronto defenders. The Raptors had a chance to win at the buzzer, but an off-balance three-pointer from the left wing by wing DeMar DeRozan failed to draw iron.
As has been the case often for the Pelicans lately, with key players out of the lineup, they needed other players to increase their production in order to win. New Orleans reserve center Alexis Ajinca enjoyed one of the best games of his NBA career Jan. 18, tallying a career-high 22 points. Ajinca and fellow 7-footer Omer Asik combined to give Toronto trouble in the paint, combining for 33 points and 15 rebounds.
After a lengthy stretch of scant on-court success, the Raptors broke through last season by winning the Atlantic Division for the first time since '07. Toronto appears well on its way to its third division crown in franchise history in 2014-15, having built a significant lead on its competition.
A year after DeRozan was named an All-Star for the first time, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry did the same this month. Lowry was voted a starter by the fans, another sign of Toronto's increasing popularity and emergence as a quality team.
Intriguing matchup: Bench vs. bench
Toronto has been one of the NBA's deepest teams this season, led by former New Orleans guard Greivis Vasquez, quick-strike guard Lou Williams and forward Patrick Patterson. The Pelicans' bench did commendable work in the Jan. 18 trip to Canada, outscored but only by a 43-33 margin.