The New Orleans Pelicans will be without the services of superstar Anthony Davis when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
Davis will miss a second consecutive game due to a right hip strain suffered on Tuesday. The power forward was not on the floor for Pelicans’ late-morning shoot-around after being listed as doubtful earlier in the week. He was officially ruled out shortly before tip-off.
“We’re not going to do anything stupid,” head coach Alvin Gentry said after shoot-around, as relayed by James Herbert of Eye on Basketball. “We’re going to obviously err on the side of caution…We’re not going to press it at all.”
The Pelicans are also without Tyreke Evans, Norris Cole, Quincy Pondexter, and Kendrick Perkins, while starting point guard Jrue Holiday is working on a minutes restriction that’s capped him out at 27 minutes so far. The Raptors, meanwhile, are without Terrence Ross, while DeMarre Carroll’s plantar fasciitis threatens to sideline him for a third consecutive game. Carroll is officially considered a game-time decision again and context clues – including the absence of Davis, which swings the odds in Toronto’s favor with or without their wing stopper – suggest Carroll will continue to rest. The Raptors assigned Bruno Caboclo and Bebe Nogueira to the D-League on Friday, so Carroll’s absence would mean the team has just 11 healthy bodies.
You can check out the full game preview here, but note the Raptors have inched from nine-point favorites to 9.5-point favorites in the time since it was published.
The absence of Davis plays a major part in that line. The Pelicans were struggling at 1-6 even before Davis hit the shelf (they’re now 1-7), with their defense ranking as the league’s worst. Even with Davis curiously looking disengaged at that end of the floor, losing him will make stopping a roughly average Raptors attack far more difficult. Omer Asik looms in the paint and Holiday is a quality perimeter defender, but the defensively challenged Ryan Anderson will draw the start at the four, Eric Gordon has been shaky all season, and the team lacks a perimeter stopper.
That’s not to say the game will be a stroll like Wednesday’s. Holiday and Gordon are a strong offensive duo, Anderson really stretches a defense out, and the team is flush with decent shooters that have been given a green light by Gentry, a proponent of the spread pick-and-roll. Dante Cunningham and Luke Babbitt can slide to the four in smaller looks without giving up too much defensively to Patrick Patterson, and the Pelicans could be aggressive in matching the Raptors with two-point guard sets.
Still, it’s hard to look at this team down Davis and four others and not be optimistic about the Raptors’ chances. Davis is averaging 24 points, nine rebounds, 2.3 assist, 1.3 steals, and 2.6 blocks with a 55.8 true shooting percentage and 24.1 player efficiency rating, numbers that somehow pale in comparison to his 2014-15 production. A presumed MVP candidate, Davis has lifted the Pelicans’ performance by 7.2 points per-100 possessions, down from 11.3 a season ago but still profound. He’s a deadly dive-man, a great spot-up shooter and quality off-dribble marksman, a quick on-ball attacker, an elite finisher, a remarkable weak-side shot-blocker, and a quick, rangy, and athletic defender. He’s very, very good, is what I’m trying to say.
For fans with tickets for Friday’s game, Davis’ absence is probably disappointing. He’s one of the most unique viewing experiences in the entire NBA, and missing out on the lone non-All-Star chance to see him in Toronto this year is unfortunate. As a consolation, it puts the Raptors in a much better position to win.
Be sure to use the Gameday post for live discussion during the game.
