Zion Williamson enters Friday’s game at Indiana just nine points from scoring 1,000 in his brief pro career. If he does so against the Pacers, the forward would be the first NBA player since Blake Griffin a decade ago to tally that many points in just 44 career games.
However, Williamson has made it clear that whether that statistic is part of his Friday postgame conversation will be entirely dependent on one thing: the final score in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
“If we win the game, it will mean a lot,” Williamson said Wednesday after a 22-point triumph over Phoenix, before seemingly grinning behind his facemask and adding, “if we don’t, don’t even ask me about it, to be honest.”
Individual numbers and accomplishments are nice, but New Orleans (8-12) is much more focused right now on picking up victories, in its attempt to move up the Western Conference standings. The Pelicans inched their way to 13th place last night when Dallas (9-14) was routed by Golden State, but they need to consistently crack the win column to make more progress. Following Friday’s game in Indianapolis, New Orleans will host both teams currently sitting in the play-in spots of the West, ninth-place Memphis (9-8) and No. 10 Houston (11-10). A trip to Dallas is on the schedule a week from today; on the same four-game trip, the Pelicans meet the Grizzlies again Feb. 16.
Notes after Friday’s morning shootaround in the Hoosier State:
Eric Bledsoe made all of the highlight reels Wednesday by scooping a sky-high alley oop pass to Williamson for a fast-break dunk. Bledsoe on Williamson’s ability to score around the basket: “It’s amazing. I played with one of the players who has done that, Giannis (Antetokounmpo). The way (Williamson) can finish around that paint, it reminds me of that. No matter if it’s a dunk, a layup, he’s just got a great feel around that basket.” …
Bledsoe, an NBA All-Defense selection each of the past two seasons, on what he liked most about the way New Orleans defended Wednesday vs. the Suns: “(The way) we competed. The ball kept swinging (by Phoenix’s offense) and we kept moving. If we keep playing like that, we can do something special.” Bledsoe later added, “Stan (Van Gundy) can draw up defensive schemes the whole day, but at the end of the day, nothing is perfect. Stuff breaks down. You’ve got to give that next effort. I thought we did a great job of following the scheme and kept playing.”
Indiana scouting report
Offensive efficiency rank: 8 (112.1)
Defensive efficiency rank: 16 (110.4)
Streak: Lost 1
Go-to guy: At the top of their roster, the Pacers are one of the NBA’s most balanced teams, with several players capable of producing a 25-point game on any given night. In their three most recent wins, for example, they’ve had three different leading scorers (Domantas Sabonis vs. Memphis, Doug McDermott at Charlotte, Malcolm Brogdon vs. Toronto). Over the course of the season, Brogdon (22.4 points per game) has a slight edge in scoring average over Sabonis (21.6). After a dip in efficiency for Brogdon in 2019-20, his first season with the Pacers, the Virginia product is back to shooting over 40 percent from three-point range and remains one of the NBA’s premier foul shooters (89.5 percent career rate, 90.0 this season). The fifth-year pro made the game-winning floater against the Pelicans on Jan. 4.
On the rise: From the opening tip of 2020-21, Pacers center Myles Turner has been a man possessed defensively, starting the campaign with eight blocks in a Dec. 23 win over New York. He already has seven games of five-plus rejections, with Indiana going 6-1 in those contests, leading the NBA in blocks average (3.8) by a wide margin. The University of Texas product has also made a jump offensively lately, scoring 20-plus points in five of eight games since returning from a hand injury.
Previous game starting lineups
NEW ORLEANS (8-12)
Wednesday win vs. Phoenix
Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Steven Adams
Notes: This group is 7-9 and the only combination used more than once this season by New Orleans. … Ingram is the only Pelican to start all 20 games. Josh Hart is the only other New Orleans player who’s appeared in all 20 games. … Wednesday’s 101-point output by the Suns marked the fewest points the Pelicans have allowed since New Year’s Eve, when Oklahoma City tallied 80.
INDIANA (12-10)
Wednesday loss at Milwaukee
Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner
Notes: This group is 2-3, having started each of the past five games. Prior to that, McDermott, Edmond Sumner and Victor Oladipo shuttled through the first unit in the spot now filled by Lamb, but Oladipo was traded to Houston in mid-January. … High-scoring forward T.J. Warren and trade acquisition Caris LeVert would likely be among Indiana’s starters – shifting Lamb and Holiday to the second unit – but Warren (foot) and LeVert (medical condition) are sidelined.
Pelicans keys to victory
BRING BACK THE ‘BLUEPRINT’
Van Gundy described Wednesday’s 123-101 win over Phoenix as the most complete game New Orleans has played this season. To have a chance to win in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Pelicans will need to replicate that performance (51 percent shooting, 30 assists, only seven turnovers) as closely as possible. Van Gundy after beating the Suns: “We need to keep this game in our minds and understand all the things we did to win. You have to know why you win and why you lose. Tonight was the blueprint for us.”
GET TO THEIR SHOOTERS
Indiana is a middle-of-the-pack three-point shooting team, ranking 18th among the 30 NBA teams in makes per game (12.3) and 16th in percentage (36.3). But the Pacers didn’t look average from the arc Jan. 4 in the Smoothie King Center, tying their season high by sinking 19 three-pointers, including two monumental treys at the end of regulation to rally and force an extra five minutes. New Orleans’ perimeter defense provided a positive sign Wednesday, holding Phoenix to just eight three-pointers made, the fewest by a Pelicans opponent this season (previous low was 11 vs. San Antonio on Dec. 27).
HANDLE PACER PRESSURE
When the Pelicans couldn’t hang on to a late lead vs. the Pacers on Jan. 4, a costly turnover in the final seconds of the fourth quarter was understandably the focus of angst by Big Easy media and fans, but that wasn’t the only New Orleans miscue in the deep backcourt. Pacers reserve point guard T.J. McConnell (three steals in 24 minutes) disrupted the Pelicans earlier in the game as the hosts tried to advance the ball, creating havoc and firing up the Indiana bench with hustle plays. New Orleans committed 18 turnovers in the two-point loss.
