Zion Williamson Scores 22 in NBA Debut

Former Duke star has huge fourth quarter

Much like this NBA season, it took awhile, but Zion Williamson finally arrived in the New Orleans’ Pelicans loss to San Antonio on Wednesday.

Williamson, the top pick in the NBA Draft after a spectacular year at Duke, missed the first two-plus months of the season, recovering from a preseason knee injury. He was in the starting lineup but, with a capacity crowd and huge TV audience watching his every move, Williamson took some time before having a major impact on the game.

“I wouldn’t even call it struggling,” teammate Lonzo Ball said. “ I mean, it was his first game. He told me before the game started he was going to ease his way into it. I told him to get a feel for it and then go from there.”

Williamson spent much of the first quarter deferring and passing as soon as he got the ball. Entering the fourth quarter, he had a total of five points in the game.

“To start the game, he wasn’t going 100 miles an hour trying to get that first bucket and get that monkey off his back,” teammate Josh Hart said. “He made the right plays and I think that’s the biggest thing, especially for someone (his) age. With so many eyes on you, and so much pressure on you, it’s easy to conform and whether we win or lose have your debut be successful. He went out there and made the right plays and played well defensively. He rebounded the ball and did a great job.”

Then it was showtime.

In a three-minute span, Williamson scored 17 straight points, including hitting all four three-point attempts, briefly giving the Pelicans a lead. The Spurts pulled out a four-point victory over the final five minutes, with Williamson on the bench.

“Well the energy was great,” teammate Brandon Ingram, another former Duke one-and-done, said. “He did a good job of asserting himself when he was open, having the confidence to pull the threes. Getting to the basket, causing all that attention. He’s off to a good start.”

He finished with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds and three assists.

“It was good to get back out there, obviously, but I didn’t have the outcome that I wanted,” Williamson said. “So I have to get better and move on to the next.”