Pelicans rebound through Adams to blunt bold Bucks comeback
Steven Adams claimed a seasonhigh 20 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans held off a furious Milwaukee rally to beat the Bucks 131-126 yesterday.
Kiwi centre Adams spent 38 minutes on home court and while scoring just four points, he managed to reel in 10 offensive and 10 defensive boards, finishing just short of his alltime NBA game-high for rebounds of 23.
Milwaukee trailed nearly the entire game, usually by doubledigits, and the Pelicans appeared firmly in control when Lonzo Ball made it 93-65 with 4:35 left in the third quarter.
But Khris Middleton’s turnaround jumper began a head-spinning 20-3 run during the next 3:08. Giannis Antetokounmpo hit a 3 during the surge and capped it with a spinning dribble for a layup while he was fouled.
Milwaukee’s deficit was back down to single digits when Pat Connaughton’s layup made it 98-89, but the Pelicans scored the last five points of the quarter, including Nicolo Melli’s 3 as the period ended, to stem the tide.
After that, the Pelicans maintained a lead close to 10 points until less than two minutes remained.
The Pelicans, who came in having won just two of their last 10 games, put together one of their best first halves of the season.
They shot 57.1 per cent in the first 24 minutes, including 12 of 21 from 3-point range. And they led by as many as 29 when Nickeil Alexander-Walker made a layup over Brook Lopez and high off the glass, then intercepted Antetokounmpo’s pass and drove straight back to the hoop for a dunk to make it 47-28.
Eric Bledsoe, who came to New Orleans from Milwaukee as part of the multiple-team trade, hit five of his first six 3-point shots and had 17 points before halftime. Pelicans reserve guard Josh Hart made all four of his shots in the second quarter, three from deep.
The Bucks, by contrast, struggled even to make open shots, hitting 37 per cent, and turned the ball over eight times in the first two quarters.
Middleton missed his first five shots before finally hitting a mid-range jumper with 1:24 left in the second quarter. Soon after, Middleton converted a steal from Nicolo Melli into a breakaway layup, trimming New Orleans’ lead to 68-45 at halftime.
James Harden and Kyrie Irving each scored 25 points to help Brooklyn roll past the Oklahoma City Thunder 147-125, as the Nets rested Kevin Durant.
Nets coach Steve Nash said he was protecting Durant, the league’s No 2 scorer. Brooklyn made the move work – the team scored a season-high points total.
Theo Maledon, a 19-year-old rookie, scored 24 points and was perfect on six shots from 3-point range for the Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points and Hamidou Diallo added 18 for Oklahoma City.
The Nets led by nine at the end of the first quarter, then scored the first 10 points of the second to take a 46-27 lead and force the Thunder to call a timeout.
The Nets kept it going after the interruption, scoring five more points before the Thunder got on the board in the quarter.
The Nets led 76-59 at halftime – their season high point total for a first half and the most the Thunder have allowed in any half this season.