With four minutes to go on Saturday, the Pelicans season looked to be done and dusted. Even with three games against Golden State – their primary opponent for the 10th seed – still on the schedule including a back-to-back starting on Monday, a 10-point deficit to the lowly Timberwolves looked to be the death knell in a season of disappointment.
In the blink of an eye, though, New Orleans suddenly looked something like that team many thought they could be this season. A frantic series of defensive stops and trips to the free throw line and a putback by Willy Hernangomez with 21.9 seconds left ultimately led to an overtime period that Zion Williamson and the Pelicans dominated to keep their postseason hopes alive.
“I have talked…all year about our team’s resilience,” head coach Stan Van Gundy said. “All year. And I’ll stick with it. We’ve had games where we weren’t good. We’ve had games where we’ve given up leads like tonight. But this team has never quit on anything. After a bad game or the other night in Denver (where we were) way down and come back, tonight down 10 with four minutes to go and get it to overtime. We needed that.”
Three days removed from a wild comeback that culminated in a controversial finish in Denver, the Pelicans played out nearly the same script in Minnesota, though this time with a far happier conclusion. That ending could be only be reached, though, through the expected heroics of Zion Williamson and a career night from Lonzo Ball.
Williamson poured in 37 points on 14-of-17 shooting from the field with nine rebounds and eight assists, a staggering stat line that shouldn’t feel as normal as it does. The yin to his yang on the night was Ball, who matched his career-high in 3-pointers with eight and surpassed his career-high in points with 33, the first 30-point game of his career.
“I thought he was great,” Van Gundy said of Ball. “I really thought he was great. And I thought it was one of the better jobs he has done, on top of that, of keeping us organized and poised coming down the stretch. He had us organized and I thought that was good.”
“We’ve been through it time and time again,” Eric Bledsoe added. “Somebody had to step up and it was them two. They had the ball in their hands tonight and we needed them to make plays.”
While Williamson was the inevitable force in overtime that fouled out three separate Wolves front court players in the extra session, Ball was the long-range specialist in the early stages of the night that made the win possible.
“I think whenever a momentum change in our favor, Lonzo was there,” Williamson said. “Whether it was hitting a three or just creating something on a fastbreak or just defense. Whenever we needed a momentum change, Lonzo was there for us tonight.”
After knocking down three 3-pointers in the first quarter, Ball more than doubled that in the third quarter, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the arc in the period. His eighth 3-pointer in the fourth quarter tied his season- and career-high and his free throw shooting, another massive area of improvement in his game, iced the game in the overtime session.
“They were helping in a lot on (Zion),” Ball said. “When the ball came to me, it wasn’t like they were 6’9”, 6’10” (players) closing out. It was guards closing out to me so I had pretty good looks at it. I was just letting it fly when it was open and it was going in.”
New Orleans’ rally in the final four minutes featured a healthy dose of missed opportunities from the Wolves, who had won four straight entering the night but still sport a 20-45 record on the season after Saturday’s loss. On the offensive end, though, the Pelicans made trips to the free throw line through Brandon Ingram, Eric Bledsoe and Hernangomez to make their comeback.
With the Pelicans down two following a Ricky Rubio jumper with 38.6 seconds left, it was Ball who crashed the offensive glass after missed 3-pointers by himself and Ingram to keep the ball alive before Hernangomez’s putback tied the game with 21.9 seconds remaining.
Needing a stop defensively to force overtime, Williamson switched onto D’Angelo Russell and forced a long, fadeaway 3-pointer that missed. Ball, again, fought for the rebound to help see the clock hit zeroes and send the game to overtime.
“(We) got a lot of guys on this team that have that fight in them, that dog in them that came out tonight,” Ball said. “We ended up going into overtime with a good stop by (Zion) and then he carried us in OT and we came out with a win.
“I love playing like this, especially with the pressure up high,” he added. “I feel like I play better. I’m just blessed to be in this position, to finally be here and play in these big games for us. For me, (I’ll) just keep coming in with the same attitude and do what I can do to help my team win.”
In overtime, Williamson went full battering ram, fouling out Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid in consecutive offensive possessions as he scored seven of the Pelicans’ 17 points. Ball added five, all of those coming at the free throw line. He matched his career-high of 29 points after splitting a pair with 48 seconds remaining.
He added two more on the next possession to set a career-high and eclipse the 30-point mark. After Ingram, the team’s best free throw shooter on the year at 88.5%, missed a pair, Ball knocked down the final two of the game to seal the win.
“I’m just happy we won,” Ball said. “The points are going to be there depending on the night. I’m not really too worried about that. It’s the fact that we won is all I carry about. I know we have to finish these last nine (games) strong so that’s what I’m focused on.”
Saturday’s win sets up a back-to-back that will effectively determine the Pelicans’ postseason fate. A bizarre scheduling quirk sees Golden State visit on Monday and Tuesday for the first meetings between the two teams this season.
After wins by both teams on Saturday, the Pelicans sit three games back of the Warriors with eight games remaining, making both games virtual must-wins. But all those stakes are possible largely only because of Ball, Williamson, and a nearly perfect final four minutes of regulation on Saturday.
“This was the biggest game of the season and now Monday will be biggest game of the season,” Van Gundy said. “One of the things we talk about…is the game you’re playing that night has to be the biggest game of the year and that’s how you have to approach it because we can’t afford very many losses. Obviously, we’re fighting with Golden State so everybody will focus on that but if you give away a game tonight, it just gets further and further out of reach.”
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