NEW ORLEANS — Zion Williamson ducked and smiled as celebrating Recent Orleans Pelicans teammates poured bottles of water over him. Moments later, Trey Muprhy III pretended to put a crown on Williamson’s head — a fitting gesture after a memorable game which, by the tip, had coronation-type energy about it.
The 22-year-old Williamson scored a career-high 43 points, capping it with Recent Orleans’ final 14 points within the last 2:44 of the sport, and the Pelicans outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-118 on Wednesday night for his or her fourth straight victory.
“People remember winners,” the 22-year-old Williamson said. “Once you have a look at among the biggest of all time, the very first thing you go to is championships, what they did in big moments. And that’s what I need to be remembered as — a winner.
“I can’t just sit here and say I need to win. I’ve got to point out it,” added Williamson, who also credited teammate CJ McCollum for urging him on in the ultimate minutes.
“CJ checked out me and said, ‘You ought to be great, that is the moment to do it.’”
Anthony Edwards, who scored 27 for Minnesota, missed a baseline fade for the win as time expired on a game wherein the Wolves led most of the best way, and by as many as 11 points, before losing their fourth straight.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch lamented his team’s defense on Williamson within the second half that was “way too soft.”
“We let him come running at us, and he was capable of get a head of steam,” Finch said. “When he does that, it’s tough.”
Williamson’s 3-pointer with 2:17 left, assisted by more usual perimeter threat Murphy, cut Minnesota’s result in 112-110. Williamson then pulled out of a spinning dribble within the lane for a brief floater that tied it.
“We actually had diverse play-calling down the stretch,” a smiling McCollum deadpanned. “Get the ball to Z and get the (expletive) out of the best way.”
Williamson tied it again at 114 on a driving finger roll. And after Jaden McDaniels’ free throws put Minnesota back up with 1:04 left, Williamson hit a contested, off-balance, driving layup to tie it before stepping as much as tip a bounce pass away from McDaniels and convert the steal right into a go-ahead, breakaway dunk that had a sellout crowd in a frenzy.
“That’s just who he’s; he understands time, rating, situations. He understands the moment. And he made big plays after big plays,” coach Willie Green said. “That’s what great players do.”
Edwards’ dunk tied it at 118 before Williamson hit considered one of two free throws, which turned out to be enough.
Murphy scored 21, going 5 of 6 from 3, and McCollum scored 20 for the Pelicans. Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
D’Angelo Russell had 27 points and McDaniels scored 19 for Minnesota.
“There have been quite a lot of good things we did in the sport,” Russell said. “We did all the things we could and battled. We tried to present ourselves a probability at the tip of the sport and that’s all you may ask for.”
The sport was marked by physical play and flaring emotions.
There have been 52 total fouls called, including a half-dozen technical fouls and one flagrant foul on each team.
“An emotional game, a chippy game, but this is nice,” Green said. “It builds our character. It’s great to be on the winning side.”
Austin Rivers, who wound up fouling out with nearly 8 minutes left, was assessed a flagrant-1 foul after he caught Larry Nance Jr. hard in the top with a forearm late within the third quarter. Nance went to the locker room and was ruled out for the rest of the sport with neck spasms.
Rivers, a 2012 Recent Orleans first-round draft alternative together with Anthony Davis, also exchanged shoves with Valanciunas. Double technicals were called and a further technical was called on Recent Orleans’ Naji Marshall for pushing Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert as he stepped between Valanciunas and Rivers.
Minnesota took a 50-39 lead after a 9-0 run ignited by Russell’s 3 and fueled by McDaniels’ layup and putback within the second quarter.
Back-to-back dunks by Williamson and Murphy helped the Pelicans trim it to 52-49 before Naz Reid’s 3 made it 55-49 at halftime.
NEW ORLEANS — Zion Williamson ducked and smiled as celebrating Recent Orleans Pelicans teammates poured bottles of water over him. Moments later, Trey Muprhy III pretended to put a crown on Williamson’s head — a fitting gesture after a memorable game which, by the tip, had coronation-type energy about it.
The 22-year-old Williamson scored a career-high 43 points, capping it with Recent Orleans’ final 14 points within the last 2:44 of the sport, and the Pelicans outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-118 on Wednesday night for his or her fourth straight victory.
“People remember winners,” the 22-year-old Williamson said. “Once you have a look at among the biggest of all time, the very first thing you go to is championships, what they did in big moments. And that’s what I need to be remembered as — a winner.
“I can’t just sit here and say I need to win. I’ve got to point out it,” added Williamson, who also credited teammate CJ McCollum for urging him on in the ultimate minutes.
“CJ checked out me and said, ‘You ought to be great, that is the moment to do it.’”
Anthony Edwards, who scored 27 for Minnesota, missed a baseline fade for the win as time expired on a game wherein the Wolves led most of the best way, and by as many as 11 points, before losing their fourth straight.
Minnesota coach Chris Finch lamented his team’s defense on Williamson within the second half that was “way too soft.”
“We let him come running at us, and he was capable of get a head of steam,” Finch said. “When he does that, it’s tough.”
Williamson’s 3-pointer with 2:17 left, assisted by more usual perimeter threat Murphy, cut Minnesota’s result in 112-110. Williamson then pulled out of a spinning dribble within the lane for a brief floater that tied it.
“We actually had diverse play-calling down the stretch,” a smiling McCollum deadpanned. “Get the ball to Z and get the (expletive) out of the best way.”
Williamson tied it again at 114 on a driving finger roll. And after Jaden McDaniels’ free throws put Minnesota back up with 1:04 left, Williamson hit a contested, off-balance, driving layup to tie it before stepping as much as tip a bounce pass away from McDaniels and convert the steal right into a go-ahead, breakaway dunk that had a sellout crowd in a frenzy.
“That’s just who he’s; he understands time, rating, situations. He understands the moment. And he made big plays after big plays,” coach Willie Green said. “That’s what great players do.”
Edwards’ dunk tied it at 118 before Williamson hit considered one of two free throws, which turned out to be enough.
Murphy scored 21, going 5 of 6 from 3, and McCollum scored 20 for the Pelicans. Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
D’Angelo Russell had 27 points and McDaniels scored 19 for Minnesota.
“There have been quite a lot of good things we did in the sport,” Russell said. “We did all the things we could and battled. We tried to present ourselves a probability at the tip of the sport and that’s all you may ask for.”
The sport was marked by physical play and flaring emotions.
There have been 52 total fouls called, including a half-dozen technical fouls and one flagrant foul on each team.
“An emotional game, a chippy game, but this is nice,” Green said. “It builds our character. It’s great to be on the winning side.”
Austin Rivers, who wound up fouling out with nearly 8 minutes left, was assessed a flagrant-1 foul after he caught Larry Nance Jr. hard in the top with a forearm late within the third quarter. Nance went to the locker room and was ruled out for the rest of the sport with neck spasms.
Rivers, a 2012 Recent Orleans first-round draft alternative together with Anthony Davis, also exchanged shoves with Valanciunas. Double technicals were called and a further technical was called on Recent Orleans’ Naji Marshall for pushing Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert as he stepped between Valanciunas and Rivers.
Minnesota took a 50-39 lead after a 9-0 run ignited by Russell’s 3 and fueled by McDaniels’ layup and putback within the second quarter.
Back-to-back dunks by Williamson and Murphy helped the Pelicans trim it to 52-49 before Naz Reid’s 3 made it 55-49 at halftime.
