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The New Orleans Pelicans (45-29) are not quite at full strength and are still at risk of falling into the NBA Play-In Tournament with eight regular season games remaining. Dyson Daniels just returned from a meniscus surgery and Brandon Ingram is nursing a bone contusion around his knee. Willie Green’s group needs a few more wins to secure an NBA Playoffs spot, but it’s not an at-all-costs proposition. The team will not risk an injury to Zion Williamson by overtaxing the two-time NBA All-Star down the stretch.
The Pelicans have been changing narratives in large part due to injury luck, not misfortune, despite Ingram’s absence. Williamson is having fun but New Orleans cannot gamble by overworking the franchise’s cornerstone. Williamson logged a season-high 40 minutes in a 104-92 home loss to the Boston Celtics. Those were not the best minutes from the 23-year-old, however. New Orleans went 4-of-23 from the field in the third quarter and Williamson missed all five attempts. He finished with 25 points (9-of-17), nine rebounds, four assists and a steal. Four turnovers were the only blemish on Williamson’s stat sheet.
Green explained Williamson’s workload versus the Celtics with a qualifier on why the organization is wary about playing their star attraction for more minutes.
“(Williamson) is in phenomenal conditioning but we still want to be careful,” Green said. “Forty (minutes) is probably a bit much but tonight (vs. Celtics) we needed to ride with him a little bit.”
Pelicans working Zion Williamson more than ever
New Orleans has been slowly nudging up Williamson’s minutes. The Duke alum has played 36 or more minutes (equivalent to three quarters) eight times this season. Four of those occasions were in March. For comparison, he has played 40 or more minutes in a game seven times since being drafted by the Pelicans.
The Pelicans can expect Williamson to get blitzed off the ball in the postseason. The Celtics gave away their blueprint after the last regular season meeting between these two teams. Boston’s Joe Mazzulla was practically bragging about the game plan that kept Williamson in check.
“(Jaylen Brown) did a nice job of making it very difficult for him (Williamson),” Mazzulla said, per ESPN. “He still got his average on free throws, but we kept him out of transition, kept him out of the paint and the guys on the perimeter did a great job of showing help on Zion and making him give up the ball early.”
The plan worked, according to Williamson’s post-game analysis.
“You could see it from where we were starting our offense from,” Williamson explained. “We were starting our offense near half-court versus starting closer to the three-point line. Them making that small adjustment of applying pressure higher up, changes the offense. We’re not getting the shots we want, just forcing up shots.”
There was no point in taxing Williamson with any more minutes once the Celtics were up 22 points in the fourth quarter. Williamson was not worried about minutes following the most recent loss though. No, the team’s leader was wondering if the Pelicans would get burned due to inconsistent focus and intensity.
“It goes back to what I said in the past few press conferences: They upped their intensity and we did not match it,” Williamson admitted. “When we started to match it, the game was out of hand at that point.”
Willie Green cannot let Zion Williamson’s minutes get out of hand. However, the Pelicans will need their most talented player to handle an increased workload once the NBA Playoffs begin. The added adrenaline should help a bit in Williamson’s first postseason experience. The only person who should be wary in that situation is the person under the rim while Williamson rumbles toward another highlight dunk.
More must-reads:
- Rich Paul details Suns' 'catastrophe' following their playoff elimination
- Clippers make key decision regarding Kawhi Leonard's status
- The 'Most points in a playoff game by team' quiz
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