In 18 Minutes, Zion Williamson Shows Flashes of the Future

Williamson, who was in the starting lineup, took the court wearing a white sleeve on his right leg and played the first four minutes. On his first touch, he passed the ball back out to the perimeter. On his second touch, he threw it away for his first career turnover. On his third touch, he found Brandon Ingram cutting for a dunk. In the buildup to the game, Williamson had insisted that he just wanted to help his team win. The spotlight, the hype, the attention — it was a lot, even for him. And perhaps it was all weighing on him in his first brief bursts of playing time against San Antonio.

But it was not a particularly memorable stint of basketball. That would come later, after halftime, once he unearthed some magic.

“He hadn’t played in three months,” the Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan said. “Your wind is definitely different when you’re playing a real game.”

For his part, Williamson made clear that he was miffed about sitting out the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. He understood the reasoning behind it, he said, but he was still upset.

“It’s very hard,” he said. “And in that moment, I’m not thinking about longevity. I’m thinking about winning that game.”

As for his shooting 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 4 from the 3-point line, Williamson cited a silver lining from knee surgery.

“When you’re not able to move around,” he said, “and do athletic movements for a while, the only thing you can do is shoot spot-up jumpers.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/sports/zion-williamson-pelicans.html?emc=rss&partner=rss