Williamson surge places Pelicans milestones within reach down the stretch

METAIRIE – The New Orleans Pelicans have guaranteed themselves a non-losing record with 15 regular-season games remaining.

Their next victory will guarantee them a winning record and match their number of wins from last season.

They are poised to zip past last year’s victory total as they begin a four-game-in-six-days road trip in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

They are in a strong position to go straight to the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in six seasons after needing back-to-back wins in play-in elimination games to claim the No. 8 seed two years ago and seeing last season abruptly end after a loss in their only-play-in game.

They are on pace to win their first division title in 16 years, sitting atop the Southwest Division with a 2½-game lead over the second-place Dallas Mavericks.

“It is a tremendous blessing to be in the position we’re in right now,” third-year head coach Willie Green said after the most recent win – 126-107 against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday in the Smoothie King Center.

New Orleans has won six of its last seven games and the key to the surge – and the season-long success – has been the availability and dominance of Zion Williamson.

“Athletically it looks like he’s in a difference place than he was a few months ago,” Green said. That has allowed him to continue to stack his days, and we’re seeing the results of that. Quite frankly, whatever he decides to do on the floor, when he’s right, he can do it.”

During the Pelicans’ seven-game surge, Williamson has averaged 23.9 points, eight rebounds and five assists per game. He has shot 62.5 percent from the floor and his free-throw percentage of 75.5 is a significant improvement over his 69.6 percent for the season.

His performance against the Blazers was typical of what he has been doing of late. Williamson finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block. He made 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) of his field-goal attempts and 4-of-5 (80 percent) of his free throws).

If there is a player in the NBA who’s capable of playing effective one-on-one defense against Williamson, I have yet to witness him doing so. Double-teams are sometimes – though far from always – adequate.

When multiple defenders do focus on Williamson he is able and willing to make the right play to create easy scoring opportunities for Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy III, Jonas Valanciunas and other teammates.

“It makes it very difficult (to defend),” said McCollum, who had 30 points against Portland. “They have to pick their poison. It’s hard for them to close out on our shooters. It’s hard for them to protect the paint on (Williamson).”

Ingram has been similarly effective in exploiting one-on-one match-ups and setting up teammates when double-teams make it advisable.

“I think they’re making the right decisions on when to score, when to pass, and I think it makes the game easier for everybody,” McCollum said. “I think it’s a collaborative effort to where offensively we really haven’t had that many issues, and sometimes we can get stagnant, but we have the talent to figure it out.”

The Pelicans have figured out a lot of stuff. Williamson needs to play in just five more games to match the most played in any season in his five-year career. This is just the second time he has been available this late in the season.

In his rookie season (2019-20) he played in just 22 games and his last one came January 22. New Orleans was 11-13 in games in which he played.

The 2020-21 “COVID bubble season” has been the standard for availability. The Pelicans went 29-32 in which he played and his final appearance came May 4 after the resumption of play from the COVID hiatus.

He missed the entire next season because of injury and his 2022-23 season ended January 2. The Pelicans were 34-22 in games in which he played.

New Orleans is 34-22 in games in which Williamson has played this season and he has yet to miss consecutive games as his 11 absences have been due more to load management than injury management.

The Pelicans embark on their penultimate road trip of the regular season with the third-best record away from home in the NBA (20-13). Only the Minnesota Timberwolves (23-13) and the Boston Celtics had better road records entering play Monday.

Before departing for Brooklyn after practice Monday, Green attributed his team’s exceptional success away from home and overall to “the consistency of holding themselves to a certain standard.”

As long as Williamson continues to be consistently available, it’s reasonable to expect that standard to continue to be raised.