New Orleans Pelicans: Debut of Zion Williamson, Face of the Franchise

New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson makes his debut

Who had the best game? Worst?

While there is a case for Zion having the most exciting game on this night, sadly a Spur put together a better effort.

LaMarcus Aldridge had a stellar game putting up 32 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two blocks. It was a very efficient game as well, shooting 60% from the field and 7-8 from the line.

It was just a cool and calm game from Aldridge, who has quietly put together a great career. His 111.42 Win Shares are more than Tony Parker, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Tyson Chandler, and for now Stephen Curry.

The worst game tonight was Jaxson Hayes, although that’s a little unfair considering he was forced into more playing time with Derrick Favors getting three of his four fouls in the first half and heading to the bench.

Hayes was overmatched against the veteran Aldridge and the Pelicans were forced to double Aldridge at the time just to slow him down a little bit. The good news is that this could have been a good learning experience for the rookie.

What was the highlight of the game? Moment?

The highlight and moment of the game are intertwined today, as the highlight occurred during the moment. So let’s start with the moment and get to the highlight when it happens.

The moment of the game started with about nine minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. To this point in the game, Zion had only five points and didn’t look very comfortable during his time on the floor. This is to be expected after so much time off and only playing about four minutes in each of the first three quarters.

But at this point in the fourth, the fans got quite a show. Zion Williamson scored 17 points in three minutes and eight seconds of game time and none of his makes were dunks. The only thing missing was the ball being set on fire as it left Zion’s hands as he scored 17 straight points for the Pelicans.

That video showed the entire, uninterrupted segment of the game where Zion lit a fire under the crowd and you could feel the emotion through the screen. For as much trash as New Orleans gets for not having a ton of fans show up to games, they can still get loud with the best fanbases in the league.

It all starts with Zion passing the ball to Lonzo outside the arc when Lonzo drives, Zion starts to follow him inside but Lonzo kicks out the ball and Zion catches it, takes a dribble, steps behind the three-point line, lets it fly and bangs it home. It was first attempted and made three of Zion Williamson’s career and it would not be the last of the night.

The next possession we got to see the connection we had been waiting so long for, a lob from Lonzo to Zion. It wasn’t a dunk like we were expecting but Zion caught the ball midair and rolled it in for the fourth and fifth straight Pelicans points.

After a made Spurs three, Zion inbounds the ball to Frank Jackson and takes it a little slow getting up the court. That delay left him wide open at the top of the three-point line and he drains another one. New Orleans is now within five after trailing nearly the entire game. Nicolo Melli was sent to the scorer’s table to sub out Zion but was called back to the bench after this make.

We now get to the highlight of the game and maybe the most telling sign of things to come from Zion. At this point, the rest of the Pelicans are wanting to see Zion keep this roll going and they slow down the possession for him to get set in the paint.

Zion gets that batted rebound from Jakob Poeltl and passes it to Lonzo, who could push the ball up the floor but decides to slow it down. This allows Zion to post up against Poeltl and Lonzo bounces him an entry pass. Zion takes one dribble and gathers, does a fake to his left, and spins to his right, as he’s going up with the shot Poeltl, who never left Zion’s hip, is able to get a block on the shot.

This is where the glimpse of the future really begins. When Poeltl blocks the shot Zion is headed towards the baseline and nearly lands out-of-bounds, the ball is coming down and the Pelicans are outnumbered four to two (Josh Hart crashed the boards when he saw Zion begin his shooting motion).

Without even taking a second to process what was happening when he landed, Zion jumped immediately upon landing and secured the ball. He goes up with it again and lays in the ball for two points. This second jump from Zion may be his greatest ability as he’s able to react and get to balls quicker than almost any other player.

On the defensive end, Lonzo picked off a pass intended for LaMarcus Aldridge and pushed the ball up the floor. Frank Jackson had the room to launch a three but chose to dump the ball in the paint to Zion. After a couple of dribbles, Zion kicked the ball out and repositioned himself behind the three-point line.

Lonzo passed him the ball back, Zion takes a jab step and lets go another three. That’s four for four from deep in his first game and had scored 16 straight points for the Pelicans. The Pels take the lead for the first time since the first quarter, if only for a few seconds, as the Spurs drill another three on their end. When the Pelicans are bringing up the ball head coach Alvin Gentry wants Lonzo to take a time-out.

Instead, Lonzo gets the ball back to Zion and at this point, you can see the speed of an NBA game has caught up to him. As he drives to the basket he looks tired, his legs don’t have the lift we’re used to seeing and he gets fouled. At the line with a chance to tie it, Zion misses the first free throw but makes the second.

The next time up the floor, New Orleans takes a time-out and Zion is finally pulled from the game, sadly he would not return in this one. But those three minutes were maybe the most exciting three minutes of basketball this season.