Raptors 115, Pelicans 91
NEW ORLEANS - One night after being ejected in the fourth quarter for arguing a call, DeMar DeRozan scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter to lift the Toronto Raptors to a 115-91 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night at the Smoothie King Center.
In snapping a two-game road losing streak, the Raptors (49-23) matched their franchise record for most victories in a season, with 10 games remaining. The Raptors have increased their win total in each of the last five seasons.
Toronto held short-handed New Orleans (26-46) to 43 percent shooting, and the Raptors shot 53.4 percent from the floor. In addition to DeRozan, who was 9 of 11 from the floor, the Raptors were led by reserve forward Patrick Patterson with 16 points, Norman Powell with 15 and Luis Scola with 12, all coming on 3-pointers.
Toronto swept the series against New Orleans, having also beaten the Pelicans 100-81 on Nov. 13.
Kyle Lowry was one of the few Raptors who had a poor shooting night (3 of 13), but he had eight assists, including a pair of lob passes for alley-oop dunks by DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas to climax a 21-8 run to start the third quarter, and the Raptors built a 69-44 lead. Scola made three 3-pointers in the quarter for nine points in the quarter.
Toronto held the injury-ravaged Pelicans to 36 first-half points, the lowest output by New Orleans in any first half this season. The Pelicans scored just 15 points in the first quarter on 6-of-22 shooting (27.3 percent), and they finished the half 1 of 8 from 3-point range.
The Raptors built a 17-point lead in the second quarter, at 46-29, but the Pelicans closed the period with a 7-2 run to trail 48-36 at halftime.
DeRozan led the Raptors with 12 first-half points, and reserve Patterson had eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
New Orleans' starting frontcourt of Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca and Omer Asik shot a combined 3 of 18 from the floor. Luke Babbitt and Alonzo Gee had nine points each for the Pelicans.
New Orleans was paced by Gee with a season-high 18 points.
NOTES: Pelicans general manager Dell Demps dismissed a report there was "friction" in his relationship with coach Alvin Gentry because of the injury-riddled team's sub-par performance this year. "My confidence in Alvin has not wavered," Demps said on Friday. "The only regret that I have is that our team is not at full strength. And Alvin hasn't had the opportunity to coach the team at full strength. I think he's done a fantastic job." ... The Pelicans probably will be without F Ryan Anderson (groin) and G Norris Cole (back) for a while longer. ... Pelicans G Jrue Holiday still is gimpy because of a bruised small left toe. "It's not really an injury, but it's his little toe and he just can't put pressure on it," Gentry said. ... Toronto coach Dwane Casey said because of limited practice time, "We're using the games now as more of a practice session. Win, lose or draw, we gotta learn from the games and get our reps from the games."