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With 99 points sitting in street clothes, scoring against a solid defense was always going to prove difficult; however, I'm not certain that many folks expected the offensive doldrums they witnessed tonight inside the Smoothie King Center. After all, the team had been averaging 106.5 points a game at home, good for sixth highest in the league. Thank goodness, the Raptors coasted some in the second half!
In the first half, the Pelicans scored 36 points on 34.9% shooting from the field. There was a real chance at the time that New Orleans would set a new season low for points scored in the game. Incidentally, their low of 81 points came against these Raptors in Toronto, way back in November.
The Pelicans made the totals more respectable after halftime, scoring 55 points. Believe it or not, though, New Orleans had just 7 turnovers today, tying the second best mark on the season. The team had a season-low of 4 turnovers against the Minnesota Timberwolves back in February.
Alonzo Gee scored 18, setting another season-high for points in back-to-back games. Luke Babbitt posted the best all-around line: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 threes. In his sixth straight game, Tim Frazier scored in double figures (12 points) and added 6 assists.
Newcomer Jordan Hamilton scored 11 points on 5-10 from the field. In such a blowout, it was hard to gauge his true effectiveness, but I will say he looked head and shoulders better than Orlando Johnson. Definitely willing to see him play more minutes.
Oh and last but certainly not least, Alexis Ajinca and Omer Asik shared in one of the best highlights of the season. I kid you not, just look at this footage below!
Let's take another look at the @AjincaAlexis42 to @AsikOmer alley-oop. pic.twitter.com/0CEcDWLL0P
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 26, 2016
Stay tuned for Zachary's full recap a bit later.