Luke Babbitt had 18 points and eight rebounds off the bench, Omer Asik added 14 points and 11 boards and the Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans edged the Toronto Raptors 100-97 on Monday night.
The Pelicans trailed by as many as 18 in the first half, but a pair of Babbitt 3-pointers preceded a Tyreke Evans driving layup from the right wing for a 96-93 advantage with 1:23 remaining.
Kyle Lowry answered with a short jumper in the paint and two free throws on consecutive possessions to put Toronto back in front. The pendulum swung back in New Orleans' favor when Evans found Alexis Ajinca for a layup to put it ahead 98-97 with 50.5 seconds to play.
Lowry was off the mark on a jumper and so was Evans. Asik then blocked Lowry on a drive to the hoop with 6.2 ticks on the clock and Jimmer Fredette sunk a pair of foul shots to make it 100-97 with 4.7 seconds to go.
Lowry's leaning left wing triple at the buzzer clanked off the front of the rim.
[SportsNetwork.com]
