Zion Williamson stunned the NBA earlier this week in his long-awaited debut, scoring 17 consecutive points and hitting four threes in a spectacular fourth quarter performance. Williamson and the Pelicans returned to the court on Friday night in a home game against the Nuggets, and it only took a few seconds for Williamson to throw down his first career dunk.
Williamson scored an alley-oop for the Pelicans’ first points, and finished the game with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, along with 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block and 1 turnover in 22 minutes.
Williamson, who is on a strict minutes restriction, sat on the bench for the closing stretch of the game, and coach Alvin Gentry said after the game that he believes the Pelicans are “doing the right thing.”
Via ESPN:
“I know everybody gets real excited, and I hear every night that I’m the dumbest coach in the world about why would I take the guy out in the game of the last 5 minutes or 6 minutes? So I’ll live with that knowing that we’re doing the right thing.”
