In 6 minutes, Zion Williamson goes 4-4 from three; turns NBA debut into must-watch TV
No one would told you that they tuned in to see Zion Williamson last night to hit three-pointers, but that’s where we are today. Zion started out each quarter casually gaiting up and down the court; trying to get into the flow of the game/not trying to force the issues too much, but when the fourth quarter started, you could tell he was engaged.
We full on believe that Williamson got his powers on the play when he jumped over Jakob Poeltl for a rebound, took a couple dribbles and fired a cross court pass to E’Twaun Moore for a basket. We think that rebound over the 7’0 activated Zion and from there until approximately 6 minutes left in the game, he scored 17 straight points for the Pelicans including 4-4 from three, giving them their first lead since the first quarter.
Zion ended the game with 22 points on 8-11 shooting, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in just 18 minutes of play. Did he live up to the hype? Yes, but he was very close to having a disappointing debut (which would have completely understandable).
That fourth quarter was explosive — something the fans and 165 credentialed media (usually Pels only get 25 media requests) came to see — and it only served to ignite the hype machine.
And we didn’t even get to see him dunk once.