“It felt great to be out there”: Zion Williamson reflects on having no minutes restriction after going off for the Pelicans

Zion Williamson felt great while staying on the court for an extended period of time and dropping 26 points in a Pelicans win.

No rookie in the past 15 years was hyped up as much as Zion Williamson was in the 2019-20 NBA season. However, the Pelicans’ plans of rolling the 20 year old phenom out on NBA hardwood got derailed pretty early on.

He suffered a torn right meniscus days before the NBA regular season commenced back in October of 2019.

Upon returning from injury on January 22^nd against the Spurs, he dropped a cool 22 points in his NBA debut. However, he was on a minutes restriction throughout that game.

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In fact, then Head Coach Alvin Gentry claimed they would “overly cautious”, and placed Zion on a minutes restriction for the rest of the season.

Zion Williamson is ecstatic about getting more floor time

Zion Williamson took to the floor last night against the Miami Heat, and for the first time in a while, did so, without a minutes restriction being placed over him.

He managed to notch a game high 26 points on solid efficiency, going 8-13 from the field. Surprisingly enough, Zion managed to go 10-11 from the charity stripe. This is something he has struggled with throughout his youthful career.

Zion Williamson tonight:
26 PTS & 11 REB

Beast on the block 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lr65SnFPWa

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) December 15, 2020

When asked about what it felt like to play without limited minutes, he said:

“It felt great to be out there for extended stretches. It was great to experience that again. It was a different feeling for sure. I was able to finish a game maybe 3 or 4 times last year. Wow it’s been a while.”

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Are the New Orleans Pelicans suiting up for a run at the Playoffs?

The pelicans have definitely built a rather interesting team this offseason. It would be assumed that having a player like Zion would mean surrounding him with shooters to spread the floor.

However, they did no such thing. The drafted guard Kira Lewis Jr. and acquired Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe.

On paper, a team led by talent like Zion and Brandon Ingram should be able to make a run at the 7^th or 8^th seed.