An injured hamstring suffered by Zion Williamson during the 7-8 play-in game was solely responsible for the New Orleans Pelicans playing Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder without their star forward. Being unable to play in the playoffs for yet another season, Williamson revealed the “bittersweet” experience of cheering his teammates from the sidelines at the Paycom Center.
Zion Williamson shared the bench with the five players on the roster who did not get an opportunity to set foot on the hardwood. Missing out on the important stage of the season is never a great experience for any player. However, Zion didn’t allow his dejection to prevent celebrating his teammates’ outstanding performance. Speaking about the “bittersweet” emotions, the former Duke Blue Devil was discontent about being on the bench. But at the same time, the 6ft 6” star was satisfied with the heroic efforts and motivating performance that the rest of the Pelicans put up.
Despite suffering a tough 92-94 loss against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and co. and going down 0-1 in the first-round series, the athletic forward didn’t seem to be rattled. “I really love hooping so it was bittersweet for me… The whole time I just kept envisioning myself out there, my impact on the game. At the same time I had to put aside my personal feelings and be there for my teammates… I feel like we executed everything we needed to, defensively. Offensively, there was some things that we can definitely clean up. But, I feel good about where we are even though we lost,” Williamson revealed.
As mentioned by Zion, the Louisiana side was terrific on the defensive end of the floor. The Thunder averaged a staggering 120.1 points per game in the regular season. But, Willie Green’s boys were able to contain them to score merely 94 points. Williamson was also accurate with his assessment of the Pelicans needing to improve on the offensive end. The CJ McCollum-Brandon Ingram duo put on a subpar shooting clinic – combining for 14-39 FG. NOLA has been a great three-point shooting team (38.3%) in the regular season but struggled from beyond the arc – 28.2% 3FG, per NBA.com. However, it just seemed like one of those off nights when neither of the players was able to get going. The Pelicans can surely avoid such subpar shooting performances going ahead in the series.
The Southwest Division team also received motivating news – a positive injury update on Williamson. Initially, the medical staff had claimed that the 23-year-old would be reevaluated only after two weeks. But tonight, Zanos disclosed that there could be a realistic return for him during this playoff. “That is definitely realistic,” Williamson said. “That is absolutely realistic. But like I said, I got to pass the tests and get back to baseline, and hopefully I’ll be out there.”
The Pelicans-Thunder series is expected to go on till May 5 (if all seven games are played). If the Pels can hold their ground in the first four games, a potential Zion return from Game 5 would be a morale booster and could also result in the OKC suffering a first-round upset.
