The New Orleans Pelicans fell to the Toronto Raptors, 96-93, in the first summer league game of the Las Vegas schedule. Cheick Diallo led all scorers with 27 points and Quinn Cook added 16, but it wasn’t enough to earn the victory.
Questionable defense throughout and bad crunch time offense were responsible for Friday’s defeat. With a little over six minutes remaining, New Orleans held an 83-76 advantage, but an 8-0 run by Toronto quickly erased their deficit. Although Diallo and Cook had plenty of highlights earlier, the two best players down the stretch were the Raptors’ Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam.