The New Orleans Pelicans played their second straight game without the likes of Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. But thanks to the dominant performance by Zion Williamson, Willie Green’s boys managed to end the contest with yet another win.
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Right from tip-off, the Pelicans looked in control of the game. Entering halftime with a score of 74-47, NOLA managed to lead by as many as 31 points at one point. And after witnessing merely 2 lead changes and 2 ties, the Louisiana-based franchise ended with a huge 126-108 win against the Raptors.
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Zion Williamson goes ballistic, records season-high performance
“Zanos”, who recorded a 23/8/8 performance in the previous clash, put up his best performance of this season. Having played a game-high of 37:26 minutes, the 22-year-old finished the night with 33 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks… and he managed to shoot at the ball at an efficient 80% from the field.
The undersized yet dominant power forward had a rather interesting postgame interview. During his chat with Jennifer Hale, the 6-foot-6 star spoke about his feelings toward taking on the challenge.
Q: Is it almost fun now, to take the challenge head-on?
Zion: “Absolutely! This is what I was trained to do. To be (me) myself, get my teammates involved, and try to win.”
Further, the former Duke Blue Devil narrated an anecdote from the time when his parents prepared him to face the pressure in the NBA at a young age.
“When I first came to my parents that I want to go to the league, instead of saying ‘oh, it’s gonna be like fun, this that’ they gave me the real side of it like ‘this what’s gonna come with it. You gonna face these challenges, this adversity’. So you know, from a young age I knew all that so I’ve been having fun since I was like 6 with it.”
NBA Twitter reacts to Zion’s outing
Head coach Willie Green had some high praises for his All-Star. In the postgame interview, Green lauded the forward:
“He was a monster. He carried us, he continued to make the right decision plays over and over again. When we needed a bucket, we put the ball in his hands. And he got to the basket, he got to the free throw line. He was flying around on both ends of the floor. 4 steals, 2 blocks, defensively he’s in the right spots. Just impressive. Impressive to see.”
NBA Twitter also couldn’t stop going gaga over Williamson’s dominant display.
The 18-point win has now helped the Pelicans improve to a 13-8 record, and they are merely half a game behind the #2 Denver Nuggets. The resurgence of Zion is almost complete.
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