Zion Williamson: Jrue Holiday says rookie’s contribution on record-setting NBA debut ‘elite’
Written by News on 23/01/2020
It was all quite sedate until the fourth quarter, perhaps even underwhelming given all the build-up.
In the early stages of the fourth, Zion Williamson had put up just five points on his debut as the New Orleans Pelicans sought to stay in touch with the San Antonio Spurs.
But when the 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson found himself open for a straight-on three with about nine minutes to go, he let it fly and it went down, infusing the stadium with energy. He followed that up with a ridiculous three-minute stretch of scoring in which he laid in an alley-oop lob, put back a missed shot with a reverse layup and hit three more shots from deep.
It all added up to the No.1 pick posting 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Pelicans in 18 minutes on court, shooting 8-11 from the field and going 4-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Williamson, whose maiden regular season appearance was delayed three months by arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, finished with the most points for a rookie in their debut in franchise history and per ESPN Stats & Info, his scoring is the most points scored in under 20 minutes in a player’s debut in the shot-clock era.
Team-mate Jrue Holiday, himself a top NBA player and the Pelicans’ best by most pundits reckoning (although that could be about to change), recognised the amount of talent needed to put in a display like that.
“I think the way he came out was very poised,” Holiday said. “Around us and bringing energy, especially down the stretch, was something, you don’t often see that from somebody so young.
“But even on top of that, we’re almost in February and he hadn’t played a game yet, so for him to be able to come and do that in his first game is pretty elite.”
As he scored the final point of his first NBA regular season game as a packed and standing crowd belted out chants of M-V-P!
Then the Duke phenomenon went to the bench as mandated by medical staff and watched the game slip away from the Pelicans while unheeded chants of “We want Zion!” echoed around the Smoothie King Center.
The celebrated rookie said watching the final five minutes from the bench out of caution was very hard.
“I’m 19, honestly. In that moment, I’m not thinking about longevity,” Williamson said. “I’m thinking about winning that game, so it was very tough.”
With Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sending double-teams at Williamson, the rookie struggled to find his shot during the first three quarters. When the fourth quarter began, he had just five points, four rebounds, an assist and four turnovers in a little less than 12 minutes.
Williamson was not known for shooting threes when he starred at Duke. He was so often able to dominate inside. But Williamson noted his long rehabilitation probably helped him refine his outside shot.
He explained: “When you’re not able to move around and do athletic movements for a while, the only thing you can do is just shoot spot-up jumpers, I guess that was the result of that.”
His team-mates loved it.
“The first one, I was like, ‘All right. Cool’,” Holiday said. “Then the second three I was like, ‘All right, boy, you’ve been practising.’
“And the third one, and from that point on, the energy was crazy. I was hyped.”
More than that though, he reckons explosions like this can soon become the norm for Williamson
“We’ve seen him do this since high school, it’s what he does so as exciting as it was, is it really that much of a surprise?
“This is going to be normal. The way he played, it’s something that he can do every day. With him being back he’s waited a long time for this and he’s really excited to play.”
Williamson came into the game knowing his playing time would be limited even though he started. He had played a total of 18:18 when he was subbed out for good with the Pelicans who trailed by 12 to start the final period down 109-108.
Soon after, DeRozan began San Antonio’s decisive surge with a finger roll and pull-up jumper. Aldridge followed with a tip-in and jumper shortly after.
New Orleans got as close as 119-117 on Josh Hart’s three, but Aldridge responded with two free throws and the Spurs did not give up another basket as they took the win 121-117.
Williamson entered the Smoothie King Center wearing a black suit with a blue design and blue basketball sneakers. Written in pink on the black T-shirt he wore under his sport coat was the expression, Let’s Dance, which was his message to New Orleans the night the Pelicans drafted him.
He certainly found his rhythm in the fourth quarter of his first game, raising hopes for what lies ahead in New Orleans’ remaining 37 games.
“It was everything I dreamed of, except for the losing part,” Williamson said. “Just the energy the crowd brought, the energy the city brought, it was electric and I’m just grateful that they did that. So it was a dream come true to finally get out there, but at the end of the day I did want to win, so we’ve got to look to the next game.”
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Zion Williamson: Jrue Holiday says rookie’s contribution on record-setting NBA debut ‘elite’
