Pelicans forward Zion Williamson missed Tuesday’s game vs. Memphis due to a right foot contusion, but the injury isn’t expected to sideline him for long.
According to Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Willie Green said on Tuesday that Williamson has a chance to be back in the lineup on Wednesday vs. Chicago. The former No. 1 pick will be evaluated today after resting on Tuesday.
Once Williamson is available, the Pelicans will continue trying to figure out how best to use him on offense. As Christian Clark of NOLA.com writes, after Williamson dished six assists to go with 26 points on Saturday, Green said the team trusts Zion to “make the right play” with the ball in his hands and will try to use him in a ball-handling role more often going forward.
“I think it’s adding more layers to our offense,” Green said. “We recognized that from the past, with Z handling the basketball and trying to take advantage of mismatches, it’s something we need to exploit.”
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- After making just 15-of-55 (27.3%) field goal attempts in his previous four games, CJ McCollum knocked down 11-of-23 in Tuesday’s win, scoring a season-high 30 points. According to Clark, McCollum had been dealing with a viral infection that seemed to be affecting his play. “I’ve been playing like s–t,” McCollum said. “I’ve been feeling like s–t. I have been shooting the ball really poorly, which is uncharacteristic. I’m normally not good at the other things, but I can always shoot. That was frustrating: not being able to help my team the way I wanted to but not having the energy.”
- Dyson Daniels hasn’t seen regular playing time so far in his rookie season, but Green said on Tuesday after Daniels played 17 minutes that he doesn’t have any reservations about using the 19-year-old. “He understands the game at a high level,” Green said, per Clark. “I feel comfortable putting him on the floor. I’m super excited about what he did tonight.” Daniels scored just three points on 1-of-5 shooting on Tuesday, but grabbed nine rebounds and was a plus-13 off the bench.
- Kira Lewis was assigned to the Birmingham Squadron in the G League earlier this week to regain his rhythm as he continues to make his way back from an ACL tear, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Asked by Lopez if he feels faster than he was before the injury, Lewis said that he does, since the rehab process forced him to focus on specific parts of his body that he never had before. “With therapy, you have to slow down and work on every part of your leg,” Lewis said (Twitter link). “… My movements feel more efficient. … I definitely feel faster.”
- James Herbert of CBS Sports profiles Jose Alvarado, examining how the second-year guard became an important piece of the Pelicans’ backcourt after going undrafted last year.
Nance & Trey Murphy both had nasty dunks on top of Santi Aldama last night. It was Jose & Nance in the 4th that really powered them to that W
I think the bigger reason Pels got the dub was Ja doing his best Luka impression, going for every shot, not sharing the ball and jacking up shot, the guy put up nearly 30 shots in the game!
Don’t get me wrong both Ja and Luka are insanely good, but you cant win a chip on your own. Ask AI, there’s a reason Dal fall in the off & Memphis are better with Ja not playing. They can both be MVPs but until they learn to share, they’ll never win.
The Pelicans Miss Desmond Bane more than they may realize. Guy’s a stud out there.
Bravo. Bravo. I was just having that exact talk with myself about those two this morning.
I love Trey Murphy’s shot and I think he will get unlocked as a top shooter. Looks so smooth like Cameron Johnson of the suns. Every time he shoots it looks like it’s going in.
Turn Zion into a point center like Van Gundy did and let him scare the he’ll out of everybody.
You have to take the clip board away from the other teams. He’s to easy to plan around at this point.