Ashley Landis / Associated Press
After 15 minutes of action on the night the NBA returned from recess, Zion Williamson is a whopping 580 on the season. Eleven members of the New Orleans Pelicans have spent more time on the floor.
And yet her season is about the man wearing “Peace” on the back of his shirt on Thursday night.
In those 580 minutes that Zion has played, New Orleans has a plus of 104 (actually had a minus of 16 in a 106-104 loss to the Utah Jazz). In the 2,570 minutes that Zion has not played, the Pelicans are minus-159.
In stark contrast to the important message he chose to display about his number, Zion’s game it is anything but peaceful. He plays with a strength that few players in league history could generate, and the attention he commands opens things up for his teammates.
That makes a minute restriction in the eight-game lead-up to the postseason much more than a snag.
After his departure from the “bubble,” which put Zion on quarantine until Wednesday, ESPN’s Malika Andrews tweeted shortly before the 20-year-old rookie did so. “play in short bursts “during reopening.
After the loss, Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry revealed there was more to it than that.
“We wish we had played against Zion in the final stretch,” Gentry said, according to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez. “But he had used the minutes they gave us. That’s the way it is. We weren’t going to leave it there. Our medical team said we played for us to play it.”
That explanation does little more than lead to additional questions.
Are there any injuries that we don’t know about? Is this just a conditioning problem? Wasn’t the team in Zion’s digital ear about conditioning throughout the hiatus? How or why did free time lead you to go back in your timeline?
Perhaps most importantly: Why not save some of those 15 minutes for the end of the game?
If there is a strict rule that limits Zion to 15 minutes, the New Orleans coaching staff has to extend it to include the crisis time potential.
If pelicans want to make the playoffs, each of these games is immensely important. They must be in ninth place (worst) and within four games of the eighth seed to force the game situation.
The four-game part of that equation isn’t a big deal. Even after Thursday’s loss, they’re only four from the Memphis Grizzlies with the league’s easiest remaining schedule. The problem is that there are now two teams between New Orleans and Memphis, one of which has Damian Lillard and a finally healthy track. Oh, and the San Antonio Spurs now have one less loss.
The battle for the ninth will be to the point, as will the game on Thursday night. The Pelicans needed Zion then, and they will need him to keep going.
Ashley Landis / Associated Press
New Orleans may have been outplayed in the minutes he played against Utah, but he’s been the team’s most impactful player this season. It has to be out there in the big moments.
In his limited action on Thursday, he showed almost no rust coming out of quarantine.
He went 6-for-8 from the field and made his only free throw attempt. In his first bucket, he essentially ran through the typically sturdy Royce O’Neale on the way to a no-hand ending in traffic and at almost full speed. He scored in a traditional post move over Georges Niang. He later punished the same defender for facing him 15 feet from the edge by turning off him for an alley.
He even showed a bit of flair with a dime behind the guy who usually finds himself harassing him:
Bleach Report @ @Bleach Report
Zion went behind his back. https://t.co/250L1OvQRA
All of the physical tools were on vivid display, but the intangible aspects of their game are even more important. Williamson feels the game like a veteran. He knows when to attack and when to defer. His anticipation and exploitation of cutting and driving angles can be as important as his athleticism in generating open looks.
There’s still growth on the road for Zion, particularly on the defensive end, but he’s more than ready to make a positive impact on a playoff team. If you are subject to these minute restrictions for much longer (or were handled as Thursday was), you may not have the opportunity to do so.
When Zion last gave up with 7:19 to go in the fourth quarter, New Orleans was 93-89 (giving it a 73.7 percent probability of victory). For the remainder of the game, Utah center Rudy Gobert had four points, including the game’s winning free throws and four rebounds. The great men of New Orleans combined for zero points and two rebounds in that stretch.
Regardless of whether pelicans can increase Zion’s minutes soon, they cannot afford to be placed in this position again.
This season is about the rookie with superstar potential on the floor and a desire for peace. And that’s especially true for each of the next seven games.
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