Valanciunas powers Raptors past Pelicans
NEW ORLEANS -- Center Jonas Valanciunas scored a team-high 25 points, including four in a 9-0 run in the final 4:46, to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 94-87 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans (25-40) played the second half without All-Star forward Anthony Davis, who bruised his left wrist late in the second quarter and did not return after scoring seven points.
New Orleans was led by DeMarcus Cousins, who scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds.
The Raptors (38-26), who played without Kyle Lowry (wrist) and DeMarre Carroll (sprained ankle), also got 14 points from guard DeMar DeRozan.
Guard Jordan Crawford, playing on a 10-day contract, got the Pelicans back in the game with five points early in the fourth quarter. New Orleans took an 84-83 lead on E'Twaun Moore's reverse layup with five minutes left, but Patrick Patterson hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Valanciunas added an 18-foot jumper to put Toronto back out on top, 88-84, with 3:41 left.
Davis scored seven points for New Orleans in the first half but did not come out of the locker room for the third quarter after suffering a left wrist contusion on a fall late in the second quarter.
The Raptors outscored the Pelicans 22-18 in the third quarter to take a 68-64 lead. Cory scored five points in a 7-0 Toronto run to give the Raptors the lead. The Pelicans continued to shoot poorly from the outside. Solomon went 1 of 4 from 3-point range, making him 5 of 29 from long range in his last six games.
Cousins and Valanciunas went basket-for-basket in the first half, which ended with the Pelicans ahead 46-45. Cousins made a pair of 3-pointers on his way to 17 first-half points for the Pelicans, and Valanciunas scored 15, including three layups on which he was fouled and converted a free throw.
Valanciunas and Cousins got into a verbal encounter in the final minute of the first half after a timeout, and Valanciunas was called for a technical foul. The Raptors missed their first six shots of the game but made 16 of their next 29 to end the half.
DeRozan, who averaged 26 points in the previous four games, was held to three first-half points on 1-of-7 shooting.
NOTES: Raptors F DeMarre Carroll sat out the game with a sprained left ankle. ... Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said he doesn't have any antidote to the team's shooting woes. The Pelicans have had the worst offensive efficiency in the NBA since the All-Star break, "I just think you've got to shoot them and you've got to shoot them with confidence, which I think we are," Gentry said. "This is not a really good time to be going through a tough stretch, as far as shooting, but we are doing thatWe've just got to be able to step up there and make them." ... Toronto coach Dwane Casey said he believes the Pelicans will be able to get their Anthony Davis-DeMarcus Cousins offense to work at some point. "They have a lot of weapons, and it just takes time for things to come together," Casey said. "They've got the pieces, and once it does come together, it can make them really dangerous."