New Orleans Pelicans vs. Toronto Raptors: National Basketball Association Odds

That’s what the Raptors did against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday in a 100-81 victory that followed what’s becoming all too familiar a formula.

They trailed by four points after the first quarter, tied it by halftime and took charge in the third quarter, a familiar pattern for them this season.

“Pretty much all of my family is in Paris”, he said afterward.

There’s no better teacher than father time, says Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

Just a personal comment, I think New Orleans should do something Toronto did in free agency this year.

Five Raptors scored in double-figures, including Kyle Lowry with 20 points. I found the Pelicans doing well closing on shooters, guarding the low-post and keeping any one Raptor to find his groove, outside of Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors knocked down 13 of their 23 shots in the quarter and looked impressive doing it. Lowry knocked down a couple threes to his credit, but it was DeMar DeRozan who was the big contributor in the quarter.

As the Pelicans departed Canada, going through US customs following their once-per-season visit to play the Raptors in Toronto, Ajinca was glued to his phone, checking for updates and trying to read as many news reports from Paris as he could. “We competed, were very good defensively and we did a good job on the boards”. He is from France and he said everyone in his family is safe after Friday’s bombings and shootings in Paris.

“It’s just a insane world, man”, he continued.

In what’s become a trend for the Raptors, their first quarter got off to a slow start. The 6-foot-10 forward leads the team in points (24), rebounds (9), field goal percentage (47.5) and blocks (2.6) per game. Gordon has hit at least three 3-pointers in each of the last six games and is connecting at 39 percent from beyond the arc.ABOUT THE KNICKS (4-6): NY is stepping up on the defensive end but can’t seem to find enough scoring to finish games off. The Knicks are averaging 87.8 points in their last five losses and shot 36.7 percent from the floor in Friday’s loss, including just 12 points in the final 12 minutes. Gordon finished the half with 20 points and Valanciunas had 15 points and seven rebounds. And when Cory Joseph followed up his three with a fadeaway jumper, Toronto had pulled ahead by 22 points in front of a capacity ACC crowd of 19,800 that included National Basketball Association hall of famer Dikembe Mutombo and Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who chucked autographed mini footballs into the crowd during a timeout. The Raptors took an 11-point lead into the fourth.

Toronto cruised following the strong third, opening up a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter and turning to a bench mob with a few minutes left to play. During the whole game, I was trying to get this out of my mind so I’d be able to stay focused.

“I’m always confident in my game”, Patterson said afterward. “After that they kind of got in a rhythm, got in a groove”.