The New Orleans Pelicans had one of their most impressive wins of the season against the Toronto Raptors, pulling away with a 95-93 victory off of a Tyreke Evans slingshot layup. The game was indicative of New Orleans season, as they played at times fantastic and porous. But despite being outscored by 21 in the third quarter, the Pelicans would come from behind (after leading by double digits in the second quarter and half) to win. The Pelicans played without Jrue Holiday (for the third straight game) and Anthony Davis (second straight game.) Evans led the way, scoring 26 points on 9-14 shooting, with five rebounds and five assists. For the second straight game, Alexis Ajinca took advantage of his playing time, outdoing his last performance by scoring a new career high 22 points on 10-13 shooting, with six rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.

• Omer Asik is not a jumpshooter.
• #Ajincasance, Alexis Ajinca starts the game going 3-3 for six points in leading the Pelicans to a 17-9 lead.
• The Raptors defense leaves a lot to be desired, no rotation to Ajinca during a slow spin move where he loses the ball. Can re-gather himself in the paint and then dunk.
• Ajinca has definitely earned some more burn, the question is, at the expense of who?
• Tyreke maybe getting into the flow of things, with back-to-back scores in the paint.
• Both teams playing one-pass ball on offense, as if both teams are still on walkthrough mode during this early start. 90s ball lives on.
• Coming out for the half, Asik post up, easy bucket, good start.
• No one came out to help Evans on that  half-court trap, led to a turnover.
• The Pelicans’ inability to inbound a pass on a full-court press shows the issues with this team.
• Tough stretch erases the Pels lead, momentum all Raps.
• Wolters/Jimmer/Q-Pon/Ryan Anderson/Ajinca to end the third quarter: no surprise that did not save the team.
• Outscored by 21 in the third, by a team the Pels held to 36 in the first half.
• Maybe the play of the game by Ajinca with that dribble drive and dunk. 78-73 Raps.
• Gordon misses an open three, going the other way delayed fastbreak results in Amir Johnson putback dunk. 5 point swing 80-73 Raps.
• Interesting how the Gordon/Evans/Jimmer/Asik/Ajinca is our lineup on this run, how often have we seen this before? (Ajinca in for RyNo, who had a tough game, scoring nine points on 3-11 from the field, and being a -20.)
• Ajinca with a nice pass out of the high post to Dante Cunningham, who misses the contested layup. (Will be interesting to see if the team runs more sets through the high-post through Ajinca, he is a very willing and able passer.)
• Ajinca ties the game (and gets to a new career high with 22.). Then the next possession finds Asik for a dunk. #Ajincasance.
• Evans showing why that trade was made with the slingshot lay-in over Vasquez with 1.6 seconds left. 95-93.
• 95-93. Pels win off a game-winning shot from Evans. Ajinca MVP for the game, but the team still ride-or-die with Evans it seems.

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