The New Orleans Pelicans picked up a hard-fought victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, winning 119-118. Carrying them to that victory was Zion Williamson, who had a career night, and put the NBA on notice.
Williamson scored 43 points, which set a new career high, including the last 14 of the game for New Orleans. The Pelicans had a simple game plan when it got to crunch time according to CJ McCollum, who revealed what it was after the game.
“Get the ball to Z and get the f— out the way,” McCollum jokingly said. While there was likely more to it, that is a sound plan of attack. Williamson had his way with Minnesota throughout the night as they didn’t have any answers to slow him down.
That dominant stretch at the end is actually a franchise record for the most consecutive points by a player to finish a game with. Williamson shared some of what led to that kind of performance after the game.
“I watched a lot of old school players and I tried to figure out their mindsets and all their mindsets were the same. People remember winners,” Williamson said. “So, whenever that time comes for me to be done with the game of basketball, I want people to say that he was a winner. And CJ looked at me and said, ‘If you wanna be great, this is the time to step up.’ And that was all the motivation I needed.”
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The No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft shot 14-of-21 from the field and was bruising all night. Timberwolves point guard D’Angelo Russell was critical of his physical play after the game, calling him out for playing football while everyone else played basketball while the referees still blew the whistle in his favor. On the evening, Williamson attempted 19 free throws, making 14 of them.
McCollum has touched on how different it is seeing Williamson up close as a teammate previously. After Wednesday’s performance, he was once again left in awe by his star teammate.
“Like I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” McCollum said. “I don’t know if we will see somebody with that strength, that power, that speed with the ability to still jump east and west and straight up. He can jump east and west and finish, which is tough and makes it hard for defenses to guard him.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Zion Williamson & New Orleans Pelicans Updates
Williamson’s combination of size, strength and agility is rare. He is listed at 6’6” and 284 pounds, looking like a player that someone would create in a video game as opponents have yet to figure out a way to effectively slow him down.
Even head coach Willie Green, who has played with, against and seen some special players in his time, is amazed at times by what Williamson can accomplish on the basketball court.
“It’s incredible,” Green said. “His touch when he gets down the lane with two, three guys hanging on him and he’s still somehow able to find the glass. And then he does a great job of finding his teammates as well. It’s a luxury for us to have a player like Z and he had a dominant performance tonight.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Zion Williamson & New Orleans Pelicans Updates
The Pelicans have been one of the pleasant surprises in the NBA this season. People expected them to improve with Williamson back in the fold, but to ascend to the top of the Western Conference, as they are tied for first with the Denver Nuggets, is very impressive. If Williamson continues playing at this level, there won’t be anything keeping them from remaining in that spot.
