Herb Jones was red-hot from three-point range, continuing his blazing perimeter shooting. New Orleans’ talented starting forwards dominated in the paint, while the bench delivered another huge performance, behind torrid marksmanship from Trey Murphy. The list of positives by the Pelicans was as lengthy as the Canadian border Tuesday, resulting in a second straight one-sided victory. New Orleans followed up Friday’s rout over Indiana in the Blender with a blowout on Toronto’s home floor. The visitors led by 23 points at halftime, then 30 through three quarters, leaving no doubt that they'd tip off a three-game road trip against the Eastern Conference at 1-0.
THREE POINTS
Threes from Year 3 guys.
The duo of Murphy and Jones – both acquired by New Orleans in the 2021 draft – wasted no time burying jumpers over Toronto’s defense, combining to sink six three-pointers in the first quarter alone, staking the guests to a 42-28 lead. Murphy saved some of his best work for the second half, tying his career high by going 10/14 from beyond the arc, part of a 34-point eruption. He now has 26-plus points in three of his last four games. Meanwhile, Jones added to a statistical resume that includes being the NBA’s best percentage shooter on threes since Jan. 1, this time going 5/8 on treys.
We the Second Line.
New Orleans’ bench holds season-long statistical and cohesiveness edges over Toronto’s reserves, an advantage that was even more stark after the Raptors were forced to reshape their rotation Tuesday – starters Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl and Bruce Brown were sidelined by injury. Beyond Murphy’s offensive prowess, Naji Marshall helped set an aggressive and opportunistic tone by scoring a pair of early hoops, while Jose Alvarado and Larry Nance Jr. also contributed, with Alvarado soaring in plus-minus (+32 in 24 minutes).
Keeping it (under) 100 again.
Holding an opponent under 100 points is becoming very rare in today’s up-tempo NBA, but New Orleans has defied that lately. For the fourth time in less than a month, New Orleans kept its foe beneath the century mark, with Toronto finishing at just 39 percent from the field Tuesday. Following the win in Ontario, Pelicans third-year head coach Willie Green called that end of the floor, “the foundation of this team, getting deflections, getting steals. Collectively as a team, it was a dominant performance wire-to-wire.”
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BY THE NUMBERS
45: New Orleans biggest lead in its 138-100 home win over Toronto on Feb. 5.
43: New Orleans biggest lead in its Tuesday road win at Toronto.
16-8-9: Zion Williamson points, rebounds and assists Tuesday in a near triple-double for the lefty power forward.
#PELSPOTWPOLL
For the second time in a four-week span, Brandon Ingram (12 points, six boards at Toronto) was voted the team’s Player of the Week by fans on X (he was also a nominee for the Western Conference’s weekly award). New Orleans went 2-1 in Week 19 (wins at New York, vs. Indiana; loss at Indiana), led by Ingram’s scoring average of 29.3 points. He also averaged 6.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists, while shooting 51 percent from the field and 92 percent on free throws. Recent winners: Week 15: Zion Williamson; Week 16: Brandon Ingram; Week 17: Zion Williamson; Week 18: None.