OKC seal rout of the Magic while Spurs stifle Utah…
The New Orleans Hornets were short-handed on Sunday, but that didn’t stop them from securing a win over the Toronto Raptors on the road.
Tyreke Evans scored 26 points on the night including a layup with 1.6 seconds left to secure a win for the Pelicans, their first victory in seven meetings with Toronto.
Alexis Ajinca added 22 as the Pelicans overcame the loss of Anthony Davis (left foot) and Jrue Holiday (right ankle) to stun the Raptors as Monty Williams praised his team for their performance without Davis in particular.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 22 points while Amir Johnson added 14 points and 10 rebounds but Toronto have now lost seven of their last nine games as they go through tough patch of the regular season.
Having led the Eastern Conference for so long, the Raptors have now dropped to 26-14 for the season while the Pelicans improve to 20-20 as they continue to chase down a playoff spot.
They will be met with competition by the Oklahoma City Thunder who also won on Sunday and moved to 20-20 for the season after a heavy win over the Orlando Magic.
Kevin Durant had 21 points and 11 rebounds as well as eight assists while Russell Westbrook (17 points), Serge Ibaka and Dion Waiters each added 16 points in the lop-sided win to kick off their five-game road trip.
Victor Oladipo continued his solid form with 23 points while Elfrid Payton added 19 points and eight assists, but it wasn’t enough to ensure the Magic were in with a shot of winning.
In the only other game of the night, the San Antonio Spurs won to move to 26-16 behind strong performances from Danny Green (13 points, six rebounds) while Tiago Splitter added 14 points and Kawhi Leonard had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Tim Duncan added 11 points in 23 minutes as the Spurs have now won three straight as coach Gregg Popovich welcomed the impact of Leonard after his long injury lay-off.
NBA Results
New Orleans Pelicans 95-93 Toronto Raptors
Oklahoma City Thunder 127-99 Orlando Magic
Utah Jazz 69-89 San Antonio Spurs
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