Let’s not overdo it. There’s no shootout offense, grotesque coach incompetence, or screaming-worthy arguments about why the New Orleans Pelicans coughed up their NBA restart matchup against the Utah Jazz.
But declining to play Zion Williamson for most of the fourth quarter of what turned into a 106-104 loss was still a crucial mistake. The minute restrictions are fine. Getting into an eight-game bubble that doubles for New Orleans as some kind of postseason, and then taking advantage of your chance to win even one of those games is not.
If you’re going to risk player health and possible infection from a virus that has shut down much of 2020, which is exactly the reality behind the beauty of basketball’s comeback, play to win.
Don’t sit Zion. Not in the fourth quarter. Not as a four point lead it turns into a dogfight and, in the end, a heartbreaking loss.
Sitting Zion Williamson on Thursday night was wrong, potentially expensive, and can’t happen again in the remaining seven games.
You know the details. Zion was strong and impressive in his limited action in Orlando, bringing in 13 points and an ingenious behind-the-back assist in just 15 minutes of action. But pelicans have always been more than Zion’s statistics.
There’s a sense of arrogance and confidence when he’s on the floor because Zion’s presence puts that organization noticeably closer than they could become in the future.
Brandon Ingram, who has become an All-Star on Big Easy, has a chance to be really cool.
Freed from the routine of playing with LeBron James and the glamor and pressure of Los Angeles and the Lakers, Lonzo Ball has become a true floor general. JJ Redick remains a veteran and key shooter. Josh Hart has an advantage. Jrue Holiday may be the third best player in a great team.
But that team is built for and around Zion, and in nearby games that matter, like Thursday night, he needs to play. There is something daunting about organizations facing great times and chances of success, no matter how unlikely or limited, with the option of being their star.
Caution is fine. Surrender or indulgence to success are not.
The stakes may not be the same, but the Washington Nationals did the same in 2012 when they refused to play Stephen Strasburg that postseason. Yes, he had missed 2011 with Tommy John surgery. He was also 15-6 before being sent to the playoffs behind a 3.16 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 159 innings pitched.
The Nationals lost in the NLDS, but the real failure was what he said to a promising team, the message that a guy who can help and be key will not have that opportunity. It is counterproductive. It is dominant. And he is wrong.
The consequences were certainly less significant on Thursday night, but the effect felt the same. No, if New Orleans somehow takes the No. 9 spot, presumably beats the Grizzlies twice, they are not going to beat the Lakers in a series of seven games and reach championship glory.
But that is not the objective. To make up for the games and critical experience lost over the past four months, the growth of a promising young team, and the on-the-job lessons that Zion can learn about the postseason by actually playing in them, those are the goals. And they are invaluable.
Securing that ninth place and testing that sense of success is a fundamental element. Playing, and maybe winning, Memphis twice to earn a spot in a series of seven games is a stepping stone on the ladder that you have to climb to eventually be a champion. Even owning the Lakers, swept or not, teaches lessons and leaves a feeling of failure and hunger that you want a young team to know.
But you have to win games to get there. Especially when there are only eight of them, and a completely healthy Portland team, plus Phoenix and Sacramento, compete for the same thing.
So, of course, protect Zion Williamson from playing 38 minutes on that comeback. But also protect him from the dominant nonsense of not letting that game end, if only for the last four or five minutes.
If I could play, and could, I should have been there by the end. Anything else is a waste of time and talent, and of those of all who chose to enter a bubble despite the associated risks and difficulties.
They came to win. Next time, leave them.
