Redick’s big 3rd quarter pushes Pelicans past the Bucks

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Pelicans overcome an early double-digit deficit to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 124-103 in their third and final scrimmage.

The Pelicans went down 11-0 early in the first quarter and were able to claw their way back to within 1, but just couldn’t find that push to take the lead.

In the third quarter, JJ Redick scored 20 points in 8 minutes of action.

His surge was just what the Pelicans needed to not only take the lead but to jump out to a commanding lead.

He finished the game 5 of 10 shooting from the field, 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

While talking about his third-quarter outburst, Redick says, “It just feels like you can’t miss. Just please give me the ball on every possession, and I’m going to try to shoot. That’s what it feels like.”

Jaxson Hayes finished second in scoring with 17 points, followed by Frank Jackson with 16.

“I wasn’t very discouraged in the first half. Even in the first quarter because I thought we were getting shots that were very makeable shots that we just weren’t making. Coach (Chris) Finch told the guys tonight that against this team, you got to get up 40 threes. I think we shot 44 [three-pointers] or something, I’m not sure. They take away all the inside stuff, but they give up a lot of threes, and our guys did a really good job. You can’t turn the ball over against them, and I think we ended up with 10 turnovers. If we have 10 turnovers, and we can get out and run, I thought we played well. I got to give credit to our bench. Our bench was really good,” said Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry.

Brandon Ingram, Jrue Holiday, and Lonzo Ball all played 23 minutes or less in the Pelicans Monday night scrimmage, finishing with a combined 40 points.

The Pelicans open up their first of eight seeding games Thursday night against the Utah Jazz.

Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.

The Pelicans’ eight seeding game schedule is below:

*All times are Central