TORONTO – As difficult and frustrating as the New Orleans Pelicans’ injury-ravaged 1-8 start to the NBA regular season has been, a harsh dose of real life arrived Friday evening, before tip-off at Air Canada Centre. While players for both teams stretched and warmed up for Friday’s Pelicans-Raptors matchup, New Orleans center Alexis Ajinca grabbed a marker and wrote the words “Pray for Paris” on his sneakers.
Via social media, the native of France had just learned of the horrifying news that a series of coordinated terrorist attacks had taken place in the city of Paris, killing over 100 people.