NEW ORLEANS — So much for a steep learning curve.
For three quarters, Zion Williamson looked like a dazed rookie and bore little resemblance to the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick and teenage messiah capable of leaping chasms of hype in a single bound.
But, as happens with the great ones — even the 19-year-old great ones — the New Orleans Pelicans virtuoso, who missed the first 44 games of the season while rehabbing a surgically repaired right knee, exploded for 17 consecutive points, including four 3-pointers, in a 3:08 fourth-quarter, offensive blitz against the San Antonio Spurs in his NBA debut Wednesday night.
Though the Pelicans lost 121-117, the signs of Zion’s brilliance were as palpable as the boos from the Pelicans’ home crowd, who lustily catcalled coach Alvin Gentry for sticking to the team’s medical advice and pulling Williamson with 5:23 left and New Orleans trailing 111-108.
“I ain’t the brightest coach in the world, but I wasn’t going to take him out in that situation unless I was told to,” Gentry said, explaining the prearranged decision. “He wasn’t happy about it, and I don’t think anybody would be happy about it. I’m pretty sure [Saints coach] Sean [Payton] wouldn’t take Drew Brees out in that situation, but you’ve got to be smart about it.”
Williamson played shakily in four-minute “bursts” over the first three quarters before getting his longest run — 6½ minutes — at the start of the fourth quarter, when the Pelicans cut the Spurs’ lead from 94-82 to 109-108 with 5:44 left. In 18 minutes, Zion finished with a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds, as well as five rookie-style turnovers.
“It’s very hard,” Williamson said of sitting out the final five minutes of a close game. “I’m 19, and honestly, in that moment, I’m not thinking about long-term recovery, I’m thinking about winning that game. It was very tough.”
The fans in the Smoothie King Center made their voices clear, realizing that Gentry had sent Williamson to the bench for good. A minute later, they began chanting, “We want Zion!”
Williamson, a chiseled, 6-foot-7, 285-pound version of trouble, has shown incredible range in practice, said point guard Jrue Holiday. But even Holiday was impressed by the flurry from the former Duke forward who is expected to do most of his damage inside.
“I was happy after the first one and I said, ‘All right, that’s cool,’ and then the second one came, and it was like, ‘Boy, you been practicing,’ and the third one went down,” Holiday said. “From that point on, the energy was crazy. But we’ve seen him do this since high school. This is what he does. As exciting as it was, was it really a surprise?”
The result was insignificant compared to the clinking of champagne goblets by executives at TNT and ESPN and all those other affiliated members of the military-industrial complex with a financial stake in the impact of Williamson on the NBA.
Even Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, historically unmoved by hype, was excited by what is to come.
“Oh, yeah, it’s great stuff, I’m glad he’s back, a talent like that,” Popovich said. “He’s a great guy on top of it all. The whole world needs to see him, so it’s good for the Pelicans. It’s good for basketball. He’s quite a package as a player and as a person.”
Popovich has been around the NBA for a long time, long enough to be on the bench with Larry Brown trying to figure out a way to stop Michael Jordan. He liked his front-row seat for the player who could become the next generational talent.
“I can remember … being mesmerized, sitting on the bench, watching Michael go up and down the court,” Popovich said. “I didn’t know if I knew what was going on in the game. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him. So I think about that.
“Now we’ve got this generation coming in. It’s been a lot of fun for me to see these guys come — come and go. And I’m still hanging around. … I’ve seen a lot of talented guys that were great competitors and who could not enjoy that?”