Toronto Raptors lose to New Orleans Pelicans 108-126
The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Toronto Raptors 126-108 on Wednesday night. Zion Williamson had a stellar performance, posting 33 points, four steals and two blocks. Trey Murphy was also impressive, knocking down six 3-pointers en route to 26 points. The Pelicans shot 52.3% from the floor and led by as many as 31 points in the third quarter before the Raptors made a late rally. But Williamson iced the game with a dunk and two steals in the final minutes, securing the victory for New Orleans.
This was a great win for the Pelicans, who are an excellent team, by the way. Williamson was impressive as always, showing off his athleticism and tenacity on both ends of the court. This win should give the Pelicans some much-needed confidence as they continue to battle for a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference.
From the beginning, Williamson was too much for the Raptors to handle. O.G. Anunoby has been doing a great job of shutting down star players lately, but Williamson easily ran past him for a couple of and-ones to start the game.
Scottie Barnes returned to the starting lineup but was ineffective for most of the game. Barnes made several poor choices at the end of the first quarter, letting the Pelicans increase the lead.
VanVleet's shooting was terrible, as he only made one out of eight shots and missed all seven of his three-pointers. He got ejected from the game during the second half after receiving a bad technical foul for clapping his hands once and saying "Come on, man" to Jose Alvarado after being bumped by him.
Raptors need to regroup quickly; this was one of those to forget.