NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson scored the final point of his first NBA regular season game as a packed and standing crowd belted out chants of “M-V-P!”
Then the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick went to the bench — as mandated by medical staff — and watched the game slip away from the Pelicans while unheeded chants of, “We want Zion!” echoed around the Smoothie King Center.
Williamson capped his long-awaited NBA debut by scoring 17 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and stirring the crowd into a frenzy — but the savvy and composed San Antonio Spurs weathered the surge for a 121-117 victory Wednesday night.
The celebrated rookie out of Duke, whose maiden regular season appearance was delayed three months by arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, said watching the final five minutes from the bench out of caution was “very hard.”
“I’m 19, honestly. In that moment, I’m not thinking about longevity,” Williamson continued. “I’m thinking about winning that game, so it was very tough.”
LaMarcus Aldridge had 32 points and 14 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan added 20 points, and the San Antonio Spurs withstood Williamson’s late surge for a 121-117 victory over New Orleans on Wednesday night.
“The crowd got into it. We didn’t let it rattle us,” DeRozan said, adding that Williamson “went on a hell of a run.”
“It was great that we held our composure, executed when we needed to, and came up with stops when we needed to,” DeRozan added.
With Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sending double-teams at Williamson, the rookie struggled to find his shot during the first three quarters. When the fourth quarter began, he had just five points, four rebounds, an assist and four turnovers in a little less than 12 minutes.
But when the 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson found himself open for a straight-on 3 with about nine minutes to go, he let it fly and it went down, infusing the stadium with energy. He followed that up with a torrid three-minute stretch in which he laid in an alley-oop lob, put back a missed shot with a reverse layup and hit three more 3s.
Williamson wasn’t known for shooting 3s when he starred at Duke. He was so often able to dominate inside. But Williamson noted that his long rehabilitation probably helped him refine his outside shot.
“When you’re not able to move around and do athletic movements for a while, the only thing you can do is just shoot spot-up jumpers, I guess that was the result of that.”
His teammates loved it.
“The first one, I was like, ‘All right. Cool,” guard Jrue Holiday said. “Then the second three I was like, ‘All right, boy, you’ve been practicing.’ And the third one, and from that point on, the energy was crazy.”
Williamson came into the game knowing his playing time would be limited — even though he started. He had played a total of 18:18 when he was subbed out for good with the Pelicans — who trailed by 12 to start the final period — down 109-108.
Soon after, DeRozan began San Antonio’s decisive surge with a finger roll and pull-up jumper. Aldridge followed with a tip-in and jumper shortly after.
