Zion Praises Suns After Dominant Display

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson praised the Phoenix Suns after Sunday's win.

Apr 7, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) blocks Phoenix / Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX -- New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson had arguably one of his career-best games in a Sunday win over the Phoenix Suns, notching 29 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 5 blocks on the afternoon.

The win kept New Orleans on pace with Phoenix in the postseason picture with little time remaining, and Sunday could very well be the difference between the Pelicans watching the play-in tournament or participating in it.

After the game, Williamson says the Suns are much better than their record shows:

“Yeah. They pose a real challenge. They are a team that I think is a lot better than their record. I think a lot of the guys they have, have been missing throughout the year. They put you in a lot of different sets. They put a lot of pressure on you," said Williamson.

"When you are playing a team like that, you have to be really good on offense. You have to go out  there and you have to be playing well on the other end of the floor because, they are going to make shots. They are going to be great on that end. At some points you are going to get stops, but you have to go on the offensive end and go blow-for-blow. We were not doing that.” 

New Orleans avoided a sweep by Phoenix on the year but are still behind the Suns via tie-breaker in the Western Conference standings. The two are knotted at 46-32 with few games remaining and Phoenix still in possession of the No. 6 seed.

The stars aligned for a New Orleans win, even if planets were out of their normal disposition.

“I think it is mercury retrograde. Is that a real thing? It felt like it tonight," joked Williamson. "It felt like that everything we did, even in a positive light, it ended up being negative. The ball was slipping out of guys hands. We were making errant throws. Stuff that we normally finish, we didn’t. I think it was frustrating to a lot of us.”