The New Orleans Pelicans outplayed the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets tonight. After leading by as much as 20 points, Zion Williamson and the Pelicans allowed Denver to claw their way back into the game. However, a late 8-0 run by Zion and Brandon Ingram helped them record their 2nd straight In-Season Tournament(IST) win.
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Winning the game 115-110, the Pelicans are now tied with the Nuggets with a 2-1 record at the top of the group in the tournament. Their final group-stage game of the tournament will be against the Clippers on Friday, November 24. After the game, Zion Williamson was asked about the team’s motivation behind the win. In the video uploaded by Pelicans Film Room, we heard the former #1 pick say,
“500 bands. Come on, man. Not everybody makes a lot of… great amount of money. I mean, everybody makes money, but when you got $500,000 on the line, I mean, that’s something that you can give to family members or whatever you plan on doing. I think that’s a good motivation.”
$500,000 is no small amount, even if you’re a player making $50 Million a year. Everyone knows that, and the fact that the NBA is offering $500K per player is what is providing extra motivation to the players. It sounds awfully similar to what LeBron James said after taking down the Phoenix Suns in their 1st IST game.
“But also for us, we haven’t won nothing. So, I think that would be a starter step for us to go and win that,” Zion added. In their 21 years of existence, the Pelicans have won just a singular division title. They know that an NBA championship is a bit further down the road. However, they’re not letting that stop them from aiming for the In-Season Tournament trophy.
Before Zion Williamson, LeBron James Had Also Credited $500,000 Behind Added Motivation for the IST
A week ago, the Los Angeles Lakers made their way to Phoenix with an 0-5 road record to start the season. Playing their 1st In-Season Tournament game, the Lakers went down by as many as 14 points. However, the Lakers clawed their way back into the game thanks to LeBron James.
After the game, Bron talked to the reporters and said credited the cash prize as motivation behind the comeback win. “Y’all heard that there’s $500,000 on the line, so we’re going for that,” LeBron told the reporter.
So far, the In-Season Tournament hasn’t disappointed at all. There have been extremely competitive games, and each team is fighting, either for the cash prize, or for their respect. With just 17 days left for the quarterfinals, we sure have a lot of excitement headed our way with the league’s latest initiative.
