Gameday: Pelicans @ Raptors, January 27

Coming off sweeping a back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks, winners of five of their last six, and riding a season-high three game winning streak, the Toronto Raptors return home to face a fellow cellar-dweller in the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Raptors have looked drastically different on the defensive end over their last six games, posting a 106.4 defensive rating, good for third in the league. This has primarily been driven by Scottie Barnes’ ability to wreck offence with his mammoth stunts and help, and Davion Mitchell’s return to the starting lineup.

Ever since Immanuel Quickley went down again – this time with a left hip strain – Mitchell has stepped up in a massive way. His defence at the point of attack is indispensable for the Raptors to enact their current ball-pressure centric scheme effectively. Darko Rajakovic’s MIG concept hasn’t worked for the majority of the season, and has been particularly weak when Mitchell has been out of the rotation.

The Pelicans’ season has had a somewhat similar trajectory to the Raptors. They started out losing almost everything and were among the most injured teams in the NBA. Recently as more of their players have gotten healthy –namely Zion Williamson – they have performed better, winning four of their last six.

Raptors Outlook: 13-32 | 13th in Eastern Conference | Off rating: 110.3 (23nd) | Def rating: 116.3 (27th) | Net rating: -5.9 (25th)

Raptors Previous Results

@ Atlanta W 117-94

@ Atlanta W 122-119

vs Orlando W 109- 93

@ Milwaukee L 130-112

vs Boston W 110-97

In addition to the much-improved defence, Darko-ball has been working on offence. The Raptors have been successfully using their Chin series to get deep post position for Barnes and have busted a steady diet of zone with some clever moves – both improvised and scripted.

Rajakovic’s motion offence is well entrenched in the team at this point, and the second year head coach has also proven himself a wiz with the pen. Lately his approach is bearing some fruit, as the Raptors’ offensive rating has seen a slight improvement from its 110.3 mark on the season to 113.5 over the last six.

Jakob Poeltl has been added to the Raptors’ injury report as questionable with low back stiffness. He had been reported with the same issue earlier in the season, and Bruno Fernando replaced him in the starting lineup before Poeltl later made his lone appearance off the bench. We will keep an eye on this and add a note if there is any update.

Jakob Poeltl hits the injury report and is questionable Monday with low back stiffness.

Kelly Olynyk (calf) and Ochai Agbaji (hand) also questionable.

Immanuel Quickley remains out.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) January 26, 2025

Pelicans Outlook: 12-34 | 14th in Western Conference | Off rating: 109.2 (25th) | Def rating: 117.8 (28th) | Net rating: -8.6 (29th)

Pelicans Previous Results

@ Hornets L 123-92

@ Memphis L 139-126

vs Utah W 123-119

vs Utah W 136-123

vs Dallas W 119-116

On paper, the Pelicans appear to be much better than the results they’ve had this season. Of course, they do have the highest cash total per days missed of any team in the NBA. Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Dejounte Murray, Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III and CJ McCollum have all missed significant time.

The Pelicans have the 27th ranked halfcourt offence, but do get out and run in transition fairly frequently and effectively. But the Raptors have been good at limiting opponents from getting out on the break. One way they do this is by tagging on offensive rebounds.

On the other end the Pelicans allow a ton of the most efficient shots in basketball – at the rim and corner 3s – and their defence has been particularly porous on the interior. They have bottom-10 marks in opponent field goal percentage both at the rim and from the short mid-range. The Raptors also take a ton of their shots from these two analytically endorsed areas. New Orleans’ halfcourt defence and transition defence are also near the bottom of the league. Barring a huge performance from Williamson, the Raptors should have a great opportunity to extend this fun streak.

Game Info

Tip-Off: 7:30 p.m. ET

Television: TSN

Radio: TSN Radio 1050