Sharpshooter Trey Murphy III destroys Toronto Raptors in New Orleans Pelicans blowout win: 3rd largest victory in franchise history

Tonight was all about Trey Murphy III, as he was a sniper for all 29 minutes that he was on the court. His outstanding shooting led the New Orleans Pelicans to a dominant 139-98 win over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena, which is their 3rd largest margin of victory in franchise history.

The Pels came out firing on all cylinders, as they outplayed the Canadian team in every quarter. They scored 42 points in the first 12 minutes and led by 23 points at halftime, and that wasn't even the stopping point because in the 2nd half, New Orleans outscored Toronto by 18 to win by a demanding 41 points.

Trey Murphy III led the way with his amazing shooting, as he shot 10/14 from deep and finished with a total of 34 points off the bench. Zion Williamson finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists while Herb Jones scored 17 points. Jonas Valanciunas recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds. Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum each had quiet games, ending with just 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Raptors were without Scottie Barnes, Bruce Brown, and Jakob Poeltl in this contest, so Immanuel Quickley stepped up his game, finishing with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists while making 4 three pointers. Gary Trent Jr. recorded 16 points while RJ Barrett and Kelly Olynyk each scored 15 points.

New Orleans improves to 37-25 with this win and sit comfortably at the 5th seed. They are 1.5 games above the 6th seeded Suns and 2 games above the 7th seeded Kings, so they have a small cushion at the moment to avoid the play-in but they still need to win games, and tonight's victory was huge. The Pelicans are 7-3 over their last 10 games and will look to build off this momentum on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Meanwhile, Toronto falls to 23-39 with this loss, remaining 12th in the East. It's starting to look like a lost season for this team and to make matters worse, they don't own their first round pick (it was sent to the San Antonio Spurs in the Jakob Poeltl trade last season). It is top-6 protected so to retain this pick, the Raptors need to lose more games which is what they may be attempting to do. They are 4-6 over their last 10 games and will face off against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.