Zion Williamson, Pelicans come ‘alive’ in victory over Grizzlies.
PELICANS 109, GRIZZLIES 99
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Zion Williamson said he felt “alive again” after getting a chance to help his team close out a game.
Brandon Ingram scored 24 points, Williamson added 23 points and matched his career-high with 5 assists in his most extensive playing time since the NBA restart, and the New Orleans Pelicans got a much-needed 109-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
“My competitive spirit was there, and I’m glad Coach and the whole team trusted me to finish the game out,” Williamson said.
After being limited to a combined 29 minutes in his first two games back, Williamson played 25 minutes, although he appeared to get fatigued when he didn’t hustle back on defense and was taken out with six minutes to play. But he returned a short time later and helped the Pelicans close on a 12-6 run.
“The medical guys thought that he was able to go back in and play,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said. “… He played really good down the stretch.”
The game also included another Williamson shoe incident.
Williamson drove the lane in the third quarter and landed awkwardly, losing his left shoe. However, the big man quickly put the shoe back on and remained in the game. It brought back memories of when the then-Duke freshman sensation injured his knee in February 2019 when his foot ripped through the side of his shoe as he attempted to plant his foot.
Ingram was solid late, making a pair of jumpers including a transition three-pointer to help hold off the Grizzlies.
Jaren Jackson Jr. had 22 points for the Grizzlies, who fell to 0-3 since the NBA restart. Ja Morant struggled from the field, finishing with 11 points on 5-of-21 shooting.
“Our offense has got to be better,” Grizzlies Coach Taylor Jenkins said. “… If we play a little better on the offensive end, I think we will be in a good spot.”
Lonzo Ball had called it a “mustwin game” after the Pelicans lost their first two games since the restart, dropping them to 11th place in the Western Conference standings.
Now they’re 21/2 games behind the eighth-place Grizzlies. The ninth-place team can qualify for a play-in matchup against the eighthplace team as long as it is within four games. The Pelicans still need to move past the Spurs and Trail Blazers to get to ninth place.
“It gives us a start, knowing that we have something to build on,” Williamson said. “Those two losses were bad, but they’re both a learning experience. So this win gives us a start.”
In other NBA games Monday, Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 36 points and made seven three-pointers as the Toronto Raptors beat the Miami Heat 107-103. VanVleet finished 7 of 12 from beyond the three-point arc and was 13 of 13 from the foul line, besting his 34-point total against the Pelicans in December. Pascal Siakam added 22 points and Kyle Lowry had 14 points and 8 rebounds for the Raptors, who are 2-0 since play resumed last week. Goran Dragic had 25 points for the Heat. … Michael Porter Jr. scored a career-high 37 points and Nikola Jokic had a triple-double to help the Denver Nuggets top the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-113 in overtime. Jokic had 30 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to help Denver strengthen its hold on third place in the Western Conference standings. Porter had the big performance in only his third start of the season. His previous career-high was 25 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points, Chris Paul had 23 and Danilo Gallinari added 20 for the Thunder. … T.J. Warren kept up his red-hot restart with 34 more points, helping the Indiana Pacers pull away from the Washington Wizards for a 111-100 victory. Two nights after scoring a career-best 53 points in the Pacers’ first game at Disney, Warren had 16 points in the third quarter to spark a 22-2 run after Washington had fought back into the game. Warren shot 14 for 26 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who improved to 2-0 since resuming the season. Malcolm Brogdon had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, and Myles Turner and Aaron Holiday each added 17 points for Indiana. … Shake Milton made a go-ahead three-pointer with 7.2 seconds remaining as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Antonio Spurs 132-130. Joel Embiid had 27 points and nine rebounds for the 76ers, finishing the scoring with a free throw with 0.4 seconds to play. The 76ers opened a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, then recovered after falling behind by four in the final minute. Tobias Harris scored 25 points and Josh Richardson had 19 for the 76ers. DeMar DeRozan scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter for San Antonio. The Spurs fell to 2-1 in Florida and missed a chance to gain ground in the Western Conference standings. The Spurs remain 11/2 games behind eighth-place Memphis. ... Anthony Davis had 42 points and 12 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by beating the Utah Jazz 116-108 on Monday night. The Lakers (51-15) own a six-game lead over the second-place Los Angeles Clippers and have five seeding games left before starting their first playoff run since 2013. Utah (42-25) has clinched a playoff berth and is fifth in the West, a halfgame behind Houston and a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City. Davis’ final basket resulted in a 4-point play with 42 seconds left, as he sank a 3-pointer while getting fouled by Rudy Gobert and made the ensuing free throw to give the Lakers a 114-104 lead. Utah’s Donovan Mitchell answered with a 4-point play of his own that cut the margin to 114-106 with 36 seconds remaining, but the Jazz couldn’t get any closer.