Former Duke basketball stars took center stage during the NBA Sunday Showcase.
With the NFL season over, the NBA now takes center stage on Sunday afternoons with its NBA Showcase game, and former Duke basketball stars put on a show this week.
The Boston Celtics traveled to New Orleans to face the Pelicans, and it looked like the C’s would run away with the victory, going up by as many as 24 points. But the Pels had a monster turnaround looming.
One of the worst fourth-quarter teams in the NBA, New Orleans outscored the Celtics by 13 points in the final quarter as two Blue Devils went back and forth in the final seconds of regulation.
Jayson Tatum hit a stepback jumper with 11.4 seconds to play to put Boston up 106-105 before Zion Williamson capitalized with a three-point play with 6.8 seconds left to push the Pelicans back up by two.
Tatum would hit a floater with 0.2 seconds remaining to force overtime.
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Brandon Ingram would hit the big and clutch shots for the Pelicans in the extra session as New Orleans (13-17) picked up a huge victory over the Celtics (15-15), 120-115.
Ingram led all scorers with 33 points, six rebounds, and three assists on 11-of-22 shooting and 5-of-12 from three-point range.
Jayson Tatum ended the afternoon with 32 points on 10-of-24 shooting as well as nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Zion Williamson went for a double-double with 28 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists on 11-of-21 shooting.
Duke basketball star gets ejected from game
It just hasn’t been a great year for JJ Redick in New Orleans. As his name circles in trade rumors, he hit the showers early on Sunday after being ejected for picking up two technical fouls in the third quarter.
The technical that ejected Redick was due to him spinning the ball back to the referee after a foul was called.
JJ Redick was ejected from the game after this exchange with a ref. pic.twitter.com/4AU7qZJsXH
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 21, 2021
Redick finished the game with just four points in 18 minutes off the bench.
Boston continues its road trip with a matchup against the Dallas Mavericks (14-15) on Tuesday night while New Orleans will host the Detroit Pistons (8-22) on Wednesday evening.