The NBA season began Tuesday, and on a busy league-wide Wednesday schedule the Raptors began their season with a 113-99 loss to the Pelicans. In the win, Brandon Ingram shined, putting up 24 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists and three steals, JJ Redick scored 23 off the bench while new addition Eric Bledsoe had 18 points and six assists. In the loss for the Raptors, Pascal Siakam had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Kyle Lowry had 18 points and 10 assists. Via the Toronto Star:
Even in the three pretend games that preceded Wednesday night’s season-opening loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Raptors were settling for too many three-pointers and not getting to the basket — and the foul line — on a nearly equitable basis.
They hoisted 46 threes on Wednesday, making just 14; they took only 43 traditional two-point field-goal attempts, converting 24.
“We are just trying to go out there and play within the offence,” Raptors centre Aron Baynes said after the 113-99 defeat. “We are not looking just for threes, but we have set shots we are trying to get, and if the guys are open we have full confidence they are going to knock it down.”
That makes entire sense because the Raptors have shooters capable of much higher than a 30.4 per cent clip. Fred VanVleet going 2-for-8 from three, Norm Powell 1-for-6, OG Anunoby missing all five shots he took from behind the arc — that’s atypical shooting from that trio.
