The Toronto Raptors visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night, and both teams are desperate for a win.
The Raptors are 0-10 on the road and have lost nine of their past 11 games overall. The Pelicans have lost five in a row and 11 of their past 12.
Both teams have been in position to win recently but have come up short. Toronto had an eight-point lead entering the fourth quarter before losing to the Detroit Pistons, 102-100, on Monday night. The Pelicans have lost by four points in each of their past two games, the most recent being a 114-110 setback against the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
“We played really hard and we put ourselves in position to win the game,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “We’ve got to do a better job of executing down the stretch and converting our offense and getting stops at the end.”
Toronto took 28 more shots than Detroit (104-76) but made just 39.4 percent of them.
Three of the Raptors’ past four losses have been by four points or fewer, and the setback against the Pistons came on a buzzer-beating basket by Jaden Ivey.
“You need to … embrace the moment, to embrace competing, embrace when the game is on the line and to learn what it takes to win in those situations,” Rajakovic said.
Toronto, the only NBA team that has not won away from home this season, has tied the franchise record for consecutive road losses to begin a campaign, matching the 1997-98 team, but it is facing a Pelicans team that is struggling as much as the Raptors are.
New Orleans, though, has gotten a lift from recently signed point guard Elfrid Payton, who had a career-high 21 assists, the most by any NBA player this season, against the Pacers.
“He was fantastic,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of Payton. “He’s a big-time player. He makes your team better when he steps on the floor. He’s scrappy, he’s sound, he can guard. I’m really, really grateful to have him with our group.”
The Pelicans, like the Raptors, have had to endure an inordinate number of injuries, but guard CJ McCollum played on Monday night — his first appearance since Oct. 29. He overcame a slow start to score 23 points.
“(We missed) his ability to create for himself and for his teammates offensively,” Green said of McCollum. “He’s just solid. We’ll need more of that from him.”
The backcourt could get another boost on Wednesday, as the Pelicans expect starting guard Dejounte Murray to play for the first time since suffering a fractured left hand in the team’s season opener.
“We need to continue to stay together, which our guys are doing a great job of,” Green said. “Eventually, we will overcome this situation and we will be better for it in the long run.”
