Steven Adams has winning debut for New Orleans Pelicans

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Steven Adams (12) scrambles in defence as Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) drives to the basket in their NBA clash. Picture: STUFF SPORTS.

Steven Adams made his debut for the New Orleans Pelicans a winning one, with a handy contribution in their season-opening 113-99 win over the Toronto Raptors in Florida.

Adams scored 8 points and had 8 rebounds in his 31 minutes of game time at the Amalie Arena in Tampa on Wednesday night (Thursday NZT).

At one stage, he pulled a Euro step, in which a player drives past a a defender one way and then quickly takes a big lateral step in the other direction, to confound the Raptors defence.

JJ Redick converted a four-point play with just over a minute remaining and finished with 23 points, and Brandon Ingram led all scorers with 24 points as the Pelicans rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat the Raptors.

Zion Williamson had a big second half for the Pelicans and finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Eric Bledsoe scored 18, as the Pelicans delivered new coach Stan Van Gundy a victory in his New Orleans debut.

“I’d say that we fought very hard in a game that was very, very frustrating,” Van Gundy said. “We were turning the ball over, we were in foul trouble, not a lot was going right for us. We hung in there and kept fighting and then made enough plays and enough shots to pull away.”

Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 20 points. Kyle Lowry finished with 18 points and 10 assists.

Because of the current Canadian restrictions on cross-border travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Raptors are scheduled to play their first 17 “home” games in Tampa. The second half of the NBA’s schedule will be released later.

Lowry hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, and when Siakam made consecutive 3-pointers, the Raptors opened their largest lead of the game at 11 points.

Redick hit a couple 3s late in the second period, but the Pelicans went into the break trailing 57-50.

Ingram spoke on the importance of Redick to the Pelicans.

“He’s good to have around from a professionalism standpoint, so we like to have him around,” Ingram said. “We love that he can shoot the basketball and when he’s open he needs the basketball.”

Early in the second half, Lonzo Ball and Bledsoe hit 3-pointers in a 9-0 run. Then, Ball and Ingram did all the scoring for the Pelicans on a 10-2 run that finished the third quarter and gave the Pelicans an 88-79 lead. They scored 38 points in the period.

The Pelicans play the Miami Heat in Miami on Friday (Saturday NZT).

 

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