New Orleans Pelicans superstar forward Zion Williamson was praised by his teammates and head coach for his performance in the Pelicans season opener, but says that his season debut was just a “decent starter performance.”
Williamson poured in 25 points, nine rebounds and four steals as the Pelicans defeated the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Wednesday night.
“It’s a lot of room for improvement,” Williamson said following the game, according to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez. “I’m still learning my teammates. Now we get real in-game reps. I’m just excited to grow.
Pelicans coach Willie Green said it was like Williamson “didn’t miss a beat.”
“This is probably the first time we played together for more than 20 minutes, including practices,” Pelicans star CJ McCollum said. “So it was nice to see us gel, It was nice to see us find shots and rhythm.”
“I said it before in interviews and I wasn’t just saying it because it sounded good, I said it because I meant it,” Green said. “All three of us run unselfish and we all have the same goal, and that’s to win. And when you want to win, you put aside personal goals or personal things. Whatever I got to do, whatever they got to do to win, that’s what we all going to do.”
“Yeah, there are some shots where I’m like, ‘Well that’s good’ and when it rolls out I’m like, ‘No way.’ But my teammates are there for me,” Williamson said. “They just tell me to stay aggressive, keep attacking and just be myself. So I mean, they’re in my corner so my confidence is going to stay high.”
