Pelicans Travel North Of The Border To Face The Injury-Riddled Raptors
The New Orleans Pelicans (36-25) travel North to face the Toronto Raptors (23-38) on Tuesday night. New Orleans hopes to reverse recent misfortune on the road in Canada, where they have won one time since 2019. Toronto comes in a wounded team, down two key starters and a bench player. The Pelicans come in with a relatively clean bill of health, only Dyson Daniels shows up on the injury report for the game.
Without the services of Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, the Raptors are missing a chunk of their offensive production. Both players played in the Pelicans 138-100 victory in February. That game marked a franchise high for points scored against the Raptors. Brandon Ingram scored a season-high 41 points in the blowout. Ingram has been on a tear lately, averaging 29 points per game on better than 50% shooting from the field.
The absence of Poeltl means the Pelicans should have an easier time scoring in the paint. Even with Poeltl, Toronto ranked No. 24 in opponent points per paint. Zion Williamson scores the second-most points in the paint per game (17.2) in the NBA. Williamson averages 21.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in his four career games versus Toronto.
Despite the Raptors being a mediocre team in scoring, they are third in the NBA in assists per game (29.4), so they move the ball around the court nicely. The reason they don't score enough is because they rank No. 23 in made three-point shots. Meanwhile, the Pelicans are happy to see their three-point marksman, Trey Murphy III, find his groove again.
Murphy III has scored at least 26 points in two of his last three games, including making six three-pointers in those games. Those six three-point shots represent half of the three-point shots the Pelicans average per game. With New Orleans marching towards the playoffs, knocking down outside shots enhances the Pels' chances of being a dangerous team come playoff time.
New Orleans is 18-13 on the road this season, already with more road wins than all of last year. After Tuesday's game, they travel to Philly on Wednesday, before closing out the road trip in Atlanta on Friday.
