Despite the loss, Williamson flashed for the Pelicans
The much-anticipated day has come (and gone) – Zion Williamson has played a regular-season NBA game.
After the New Orleans Pelicans made him the top pick in the draft, the superstar out of Duke only played one summer league game before a minor knee injury ruled him out until preseason. He then played only a handful of preseason games before getting surgery on his right meniscus, leaving him out until his debut on Jan. 22.
Three months and 44 missed games later, the number-one pick and most anticipated rookie in recent memory has finally arrived.
Despite the hype, Zion’s debut had a very slow start. Despite the fact that he started for New Orleans, he had played just under 12 minutes by the third quarter.
His lack of playtime doesn’t come as a shock, Pelicans VP of basketball operations, David Griffin, had said before this game that Zion’s minutes would be ‘monitored’ and that he would play in ‘short bursts.’
In his limited time, he had only five points, one assist and four rebounds to go along with multiple turnovers.
In the minutes without Zion, Brandon Ingram still proved to fans that he is an all-star caliber player, scoring 22 points. Lonzo Ball also held his own, coming just short of a triple-double with 14 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists.
Of course, these achievements were greatly overshadowed by Zion’s performance in his final ‘burst’ of playtime in the fourth.
With just around nine minutes left in the game, fans finally got the excitement they’ve been waiting for.
Zion exploded for seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Boy, was it worth the wait. We saw a glimpse of the Zion we saw at Duke. He started his run with a three-pointer at the top of the key. The next possession he caught a lob from Lonzo Ball and finished with a layup at the rim. Zion then drained another trey followed by an impressive put-back shot after his attempted layup was blocked.
At this point, Pelican’s fans were on their feet, but Zion was not finished quite yet.
Williamson finished the run with back-to-back three-pointers. Zion went 4-4 from beyond the arc, and the fans’ energy in the arena was so electric it could be felt through a TV screen.
Playing at the center, he scored 17 out of his 22 points during this seven-minute stretch. Williamson’s ‘burst’ has been called the most exciting minutes so far this season.
Zion’s efforts in the fourth did not quite do it for the Pelicans, however. He was subbed shortly after his run, and San Antonio did not let the hype around Zion distract them from actually winning the game.
LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan led the Spurs and ultimately pulled out the win at 121-117.
When asked about not playing the last five-minutes, Williamson told reporters “I’m 19, honestly. At that moment, I’m not thinking about longevity. I’m thinking about winning that game, so it was very tough.”
Williamson ended the game with 22 points, three assists and seven rebounds all in just over 18 minutes. Brandon Ingram also had the same number of points but played almost double the minutes that Zion did.
The phenom is here, and if he can stay healthy he’ll be around for a long time. If the glimpses we saw last Wednesday was any indication of what’s to come for this teenager, NBA fans are in for a very exciting future.