Pelica Debrief
Fansided

Alexis Ajinca carries the New Orleans Pelicans to a 95-93 win

By Matt Cianfrone

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Once it was announced that the New Orleans Pelicans would be without

Anthony Davis

and

Jrue Holiday

for their match-up with the Toronto Raptors I sent out this tweet.

As it turns out I was half right and the Pelicans did somehow pull out a win in Toronto. What I was wrong about though is why, as the Pelicans were carried by 22 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block from Alexis Ajinca and defeated the Raptors 95-93 in the most ridiculous game so far this season.

93. 81. 95. 69. Final

B+. It was very much a mixed bag game for <strong><a href=. SG. New Orleans Pelicans. ERIC GORDON

A+. At points <strong><a href=. SF/PG/SG. New Orleans Pelicans. TYREKE EVANS

C. New Orleans Pelicans. OMER ASIK. A-. Asik had a typical Asik game in regards to rim protection and rebounding but he also added in some nice offensive moments including a late seal and dunk off a pass from Ajinca. He did get another dunk blocked though. 

C-. Another road game and another shooting struggle for <strong><a href=. PF/SF. New Orleans Pelicans. RYAN ANDERSON

C. It wasn’t a horrible effort from <strong><a href=. PG. New Orleans Pelicans. NATE WOLTERS

New Orleans Pelicans. JIMMER FREDETTE. B-. The three and floater in the second half were big but for the course of the game Jimmer got torched by Lou Williams multiple times and had a bad turnover where he crossed the ball over off his own leg. He did enough though. . PG/SG

<strong><a href=. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. DANTE CUNNINGHAM. C

C+. Of course Quincy Pondexter didn’t exactly have a great game either as he shot just 1-5 from the field. But he brings more spacing as teams have to respect him beyond the three-point line and he rebounded better than Cunningham today, hence the higher grade.. SF. New Orleans Pelicans. QUINCY PONDEXTER

A+. I am still completely confused and amused by what I just saw. Ajinca dominated with Dirk style fadeaways, step through dunks, passing and rim protection. He just did everything. He was truly the Alexis Ajinca game. . C. New Orleans Pelicans. ALEXIS AJINCA

Other observations: 

  • That was just a terrific job by the Pelicans in battling all night long. With no Davis and Holiday it would have been easy for the Pelicans to pack things in against a good Raptors team on the road, especially after the third quarter. But they didn’t and they somehow came out with a win.
  • Credit to Monty Williams for sticking to things that worked, including Ajinca over Anderson late. The Ajinca/Asik lineup somehow worked and Monty used it at the perfect time in both halves. It was a terrific job.
  • I don’t think there is a single thing to be taken from this game. The Pelicans got the game of Alexis Ajinca’s life and Toronto, the best offense in basketball, shot 28 percent from three. Sometimes in January in the NBA weird things happen.
  • Like this. This happened:

Tweet of the game: 

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