TORONTO – At New Orleans shootaround Monday morning, a Toronto media member remarked that they couldn’t remember the last time the Pelicans were at full strength health-wise on a visit to Canada. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, that likely will again be the case at tip-off of the interconference meeting vs. the Raptors, because Elfrid Payton appears to be headed for an eighth consecutive DNP.
New Orleans fourth-year head coach Alvin Gentry indicated that Payton – who is listed as questionable on the team’s injury report – probably won’t be available by tip-off. The news for the Pelicans’ other prominent injured player was more encouraging, however, with Nikola Mirotic making progress after sitting out Saturday’s home win over Phoenix. Both players are dealing with right ankle sprains.
“We don’t know yet if I’m going to be able to play,” Mirotic said. “I went through shootaround to see how my ankle feels – it’s a little sore. We’ll decide later to see if I’m able to play.”
Mirotic explained that he suffered the injury early in Wednesday’s home victory vs. Chicago, his ex-team. The 6-foot-10, 250-pounder logged 30 minutes against the Bulls, but was unable to play vs. the Suns, moving Julius Randle into New Orleans’ starting lineup.
“It was against the Bulls, in the first quarter, I twisted my ankle, but I wanted to play that game,” Mirotic said, seemingly alluding to his desire to compete against his former team. “I took some medicine for the pain. I wanted to finish (the game), but the next morning when I woke up, my ankle was swelling and it was hurting me a lot. Then I talked to the training staff and did some treatment, but it was not enough to play (Saturday). But the guys did a great job against Phoenix and let’s see if we are going to be able to continue winning tonight.”
Other notes from shootaround at Scotiabank Arena:
Toronto is 12-1 overall, unbeaten at home and riding a six-game winning streak, with each of those victories coming by at least nine points.
Gentry’s scouting report of the Raptors: “They’re a deep team, number one. Their second unit has been a real positive. They’ve got a great coach who has them playing at a real, real high level. I don’t think you can turn the ball over against this team, and they’re really good at forcing turnovers. You’ve got to be solid. And you have to get back in transition – I think they are fourth in the league in fast-break points. You have to be able to sprint back and set your defense, because if not, they’re attacking you in an unbalanced floor.” …
Including tonight’s game, New Orleans (6-6 overall, 1-5 on road) will have visited the teams with the NBA’s first-, second-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-best records (through Sunday’s games). The only squad in the top six the Pelicans have not met on the road yet is Milwaukee (10-3), a visit that takes place Dec. 19 at brand-new Fiserv Forum.