Finally, after missing the first 13 weeks of the NBA season, Zion Williamson made his NBA debut against the San Antonio Spurs. While the hype is real, the questions were too. How good will Williamson be? How much will he get to play in his first game? Will Williamson be the same player he was before his injury? Well, we got answers to all of those questions and much more.
Coming into the game, the New Orleans Pelicans put a minutes restriction on Williamson. He would play the first four minutes if every quarter. Coach, Alvin Gentry, stuck to that for the most part. Williamson started the game and four minutes into the game was taken out. This may not have been a popular decision with fans in the arena, but the Pelicans motto this season might as well be “protect Zion”. Williamson was only scheduled to miss 6 to 8 weeks with his injury. Yet, the cautious Pelicans kept him out for 13 weeks.
The game started out slow for Zion and stayed that way through the first 3 quarters. He got his first NBA points via a clean rebound followed by a put back and he had a good looking assist to Ingram in the first. But he didn’t do anything especially impressive. There were small flashes of play in which he would show his remarkable athleticism but nothing that really got the fans going. Until the fourth quarter.
With 8:53 left in the game Williamson hit a 3. This would spark one of the most incredible fourth quarter performances by a rookie ever. The very next possession Williamson spun around Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan and caught a lob from Lonzo Ball for a quick lay up. This gave him 10 points. Keep in mind, Williamson had 5 points in the first 3 quarters.
In the next possession Williamson stepped up and hit another 3 pointer. Just 28 seconds later Williamson was blocked by Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, but that was not going to stop him. Williamson got his own rebound and quickly laid in the put back for another 2 points, giving him a total of 15 points with 10 in the forth quarter alone.
During the next possession Ball fed Williamson again, who hit a third 3 pointer. Once the Pelicans were in possession of the ball again, Ball sent it over to Williamson who hit another 3, this time with LeMarcus Aldridge guarding him, to give New Orleans the lead. Williamson was fouled on the next possession and made both free throws. He was then taken out of the game having a total of 22 points after he scored 17 straight points in the fourth quarter.
Zion Williamson finished with a line of 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists with 18 minutes played. He shot 8-11 from the field and was a perfect 4-4 from 3 point range. He is the first NBA player to hit 4 or more 3’s without missing in his debut. Even though it started off slow, Zion Williamson’s debut was nothing short of spectacular. Even though he had an incredible debut, Williamson still expressed that he wished his team had pulled out the win. Despite a great individual performance, it did not matter. His remarkable competitiveness drives him and Zion Williamson wants nothing more than to win.
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