Brandon Ingram had 24 points in addition to providing 11 assists and 9 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Toronto Raptors 113-99 on Wednesday night in Tampa.
It was the local opener for the Raptors, who will play their home games at Amalie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, for at least half of the regular season, due to health restrictions at the border, Canadian-American.
New Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy admitted his side were extremly poor in the first half but very happy with Pelicans’s display on Wednesday night.
“I’d say that we fought very hard in a game that was very, very frustrating. We were turning the ball over, we were in foul trouble, not a lot was going right for us. We hung in there and kept fighting and then made enough plays and enough shots to pull away.” Van Gundy said.
In the loss, Pascal Siakam provided 20 points, six assists and six rebounds, while Kyle Lowry finished the game with 18 points in addition to setting the table for 10 baskets.
“I don’t know if it’s all Raptors fans or what the case might be, but I thought it was cool, just having people around it,” Siakam said.
“Obviously we’re blessed that we have some people, some type of energy in the crowd to make the atmosphere a little better.” Siakam added.
The Torontonians had yet given themselves a priority of seven points at halftime, before experiencing a disastrous third quarter in which they allowed the Pelicans to score 38 points, against just 22 for the Raptors.
Nick Nurse’s squad will try to recover by visiting the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
