The young Pelicans may not yet make the playoffs but Monday’s against the Memphis Grizzlies game felt every bit like a postseason game.
After the team called it a must-win situation following two losses to open play inside the bubble, the Pelicans answered the bell. The leash on Zion Williamson’s “burst limits” was extended as he and Brandon Ingram scored 19 of the team’s 30 fourth-quarter points to ice away the Grizzlies, 109-99.
“I’ve been in the league 32 years. I’ve never had an ugly win,” head coach Alvin Gentry said. “They’re all pretty. I know that we didn’t always play at the top of our game but I thought we just battled and hung in. I thought our defense was great. We did a good job, especially on Morant. You have to try to keep him out of the paint as much as possible so we gave up some threes. Luckily for us, he only made one of them.
“I thought we did a good job overall defensively and that was the difference in the game. We had our moments offensively where we had great ball movement but our defense is what won the game for us.”
In a battle between the two top picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, Ja Morant struggled against Jrue Holiday, one of the league’s elite guard defenders, all night to finish just 5-of-21 from the field while Williamson had his best game in the bubble.
After playing only in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter in New Orleans’ previous two games, Williamson played 10:08 in Monday’s final frame. A two-minute break in the middle of the frame allowed Williamson to catch his breath before an impressive finish.
Williamson checked into the game with 4:29 left and the Pelicans leading 97-93 before scoring the next seven points for New Orleans to extend the lead to 103-95. Ingram took it from there, burying a three-pointer in transition before connecting on a contested mid-range jumper to put the Pelicans up nine with 62 seconds to seal the win.
“Tonight was important,” Ingram said. “The fourth quarter we had a sense of urgency trying to just end the basketball game, so to speak. I don’t know if we were up seven or up five but we knew there were some key buckets at the end and we had to get them. For us to get them, we had to move the basketball, get into the interior and find the open guy and that definitely worked for us tonight.”
Williamson finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, tying a career-high, to lead the Pelicans. After the win, he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews that he felt alive after finally getting a chance to close a game again.
“That’s just my competitive spirit, Williamson said. “I ain’t even going to lie to you, it hits different in a bad way sitting the bench in the fourth quarter and there’s nothing I can do to help my team win. When I say I felt alive, it was just great to be out there and doing what I can to help my team win.”
Prior to the game, Williamson was made aware that he would be closing the game if it was close. He was also told by the coaching staff to give his team a spark to start the game, resulting in seven first-quarter field goal attempts in six minutes.
The spark was provided, though, as the Pelicans jumped out to a 19-8 lead after a Redick three-pointer. The Pelicans would hold that lead nearly throughout with the Grizzlies only leading once at 68-67 after a Dillon Brooks three-pointer.
That advantage lasted 90 seconds before Josh Hart’s three-pointer gave the Pelicans a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night. Hart played 26 minutes off the bench and tallied 15 points and seven rebounds while missing just one shot.
“It was very important,” Hart said of the win. “Obviously, we dropped two (games)…so we knew going in we had to get that first win. We just wanted to come out and just play our game. We’ve been kind of shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers and not being as aggressive. So, we wanted to just kind of switch things up and just start going the right way.”
As important as having Williamson back was for the Pelicans, Holiday, Lonzo Ball and the rest of the team’s defense on Morant was equally vital. After scoring 22 and 25 points in his first two games in the bubble, Morant was negated for much of Monday, finishing with 11 points.
“It’s a great feeling,” Holiday said of making an impact defensively. “You feel like you’re making it tougher on the opposing team. You try not to give them anything easy. When I’m locked in not only myself but with my teammates, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
“It’s amazing,” Hart added on Holiday’s defensive. “I think, defensively, he’s a first team defensive-caliber guard. He’s one of the best two-way players in the league. Obviously you have Kawhi (Leonard), (Paul George), Klay (Thompson) and I think he’s in that same discussion being able to lock down point guards, lock down power forwards and centers at time.
“Seeing him just be able to do that is something that we’re used to but I think every game he does one thing where you’re just kind of in awe. When you have someone like that able to switch onto anybody down the stretch and get stops, that’s invaluable.”
New Orleans’ win paired with San Antonio’s loss to the Sixers on Monday leaves the Pelicans just a half-game back of the ninth seed with Portland holding a narrow edge over the Spurs currently.
The Pelicans will have an extra day off before their back-to-back inside the bubble against Sacramento on Thursday and Washington on Friday.