Let’s start with a hot take: Williamson hasn’t been nearly as terrible against the Lakers this season as the popular narrative suggests. In fact, Zion’s numbers against the Pelicans’ play-in opponent are in line with his overall production—and that was good enough to warrant fringe All-NBA consideration for the former no. 1 pick.
Williamson’s problem is that he sandwiched two excellent performances against the Lakers—26 points on 12 shots in a win in late December, 30 points on 19 shots in a loss in February—between two terrible ones, and it just so happened that the latter pair was on national TV and had higher stakes.
In New Orleans’s in-season tournament loss in early December, Williamson scored just 13 points while appearing lethargic and disengaged. And in a loss last weekend that sent New Orleans into the play-in bracket, Zion scored only 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Together, those games represented two of his 10 lowest-scoring efforts all season.
Williamson struggled to match the Lakers’ energy and physicality for large swaths of those meetings, and the Lakers’ paint-packing strategy seemed to mess with his offensive rhythm. The Pelicans won’t be able to win this play-in game without a much stronger showing from Zion—both on offense, where he’ll need to score more than 12 or 13 points, and on defense, where he’ll be tasked with helping to defend LeBron.
If Williamson succeeds, he could help reverse the narrative that arose after New Orleans’s embarrassing 44-point blowout defeat in Las Vegas. If he fails, he might be in for a long summer, depending on how New Orleans fares in its next play-in game.
leulzy
I’ve been listening and reading a lot of unbiased opinions and most people are leaning pretty hard towards the Lakers. I think unfortunately we just don’t have any sort of answer to Lebron. He’s going to crank it up a notch just like he did Sunday, and pick us apart in any formation we try. If Zion bounces back, the game should at least stay competitive, but unless the Lakers miss shots, we’re just going to have a hard time condensing the paint enough to keep AD and Lebron from getting to the basket.
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# Zion Williamson’s Chance at Redemption
Let’s start with a hot take: Williamson hasn’t been nearly as terrible against the Lakers this season as the popular narrative suggests. In fact, Zion’s numbers against the Pelicans’ play-in opponent are in line with his overall production—and that was good enough to warrant fringe All-NBA consideration for the former no. 1 pick.
# Zion Williamson Vs. Lakers in 2023-24
|Statistic|Overall|Vs. Lakers|
|:-|:-|:-|
||
|PTS|22.9|20.3|
|REB|5.8|5.8|
|AST|5.0|5.5|
|TS%|61.0%|62.1%|
Williamson’s problem is that he sandwiched two excellent performances against the Lakers—26 points on 12 shots in a win in late December, 30 points on 19 shots in a loss in February—between two terrible ones, and it just so happened that the latter pair was on national TV and had higher stakes.
In New Orleans’s in-season tournament loss in early December, Williamson scored just 13 points while appearing lethargic and disengaged. And in a loss last weekend that sent New Orleans into the play-in bracket, Zion scored only 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Together, those games represented two of his 10 lowest-scoring efforts all season.
Williamson struggled to match the Lakers’ energy and physicality for large swaths of those meetings, and the Lakers’ paint-packing strategy seemed to mess with his offensive rhythm. The Pelicans won’t be able to win this play-in game without a much stronger showing from Zion—both on offense, where he’ll need to score more than 12 or 13 points, and on defense, where he’ll be tasked with helping to defend LeBron.
If Williamson succeeds, he could help reverse the narrative that arose after New Orleans’s embarrassing 44-point blowout defeat in Las Vegas. If he fails, he might be in for a long summer, depending on how New Orleans fares in its next play-in game.
I’ve been listening and reading a lot of unbiased opinions and most people are leaning pretty hard towards the Lakers. I think unfortunately we just don’t have any sort of answer to Lebron. He’s going to crank it up a notch just like he did Sunday, and pick us apart in any formation we try. If Zion bounces back, the game should at least stay competitive, but unless the Lakers miss shots, we’re just going to have a hard time condensing the paint enough to keep AD and Lebron from getting to the basket.