With time ticking away in the fourth quarter and the New Orleans Pelicans trailing the Minnesota Timberwolves, CJ McCollum joked that the Pelicans‘ game plan became quite simple.
“Get the ball to Z and get the f— out the way,” he said.
Zion Williamson finished with a career-high 43 points, including the final 14 points for the Pelicans, who stormed back for a 119-118 win.
Williamson gave New Orleans the lead with 39.1 seconds left after poking away a D’Angelo Russell pass intended for Jaden McDaniels, gathering the ball and dribbling in for a slam to put New Orleans up by two.
After an Anthony Edwards dunk tied the score, Williamson drew a foul on Rudy Gobert — his sixth and final foul — and made one of two free throws to give the Pelicans the lead once again. Edwards’ fadeaway shot at the buzzer was no good, giving New Orleans the victory.
The 14 consecutive points were the most by a Pelicans player to end a game in franchise history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“I watched a lot of old-school players and I tried to figure out their mindsets and all their mindsets were the same. People remember winners,” Williamson said. “So, whenever that time comes for me to be done with the game of basketball, I want people to say that he was a winner. And CJ looked at me and said, ‘If you wanna be great, this is the time to step up.’ And that was all the motivation I needed.”
McCollum, who played with Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge during his time in Portland, downplayed his role in motivating Williamson but did say how special it was to watch Williamson’s abilities up close.
“Like I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” McCollum said. “I don’t know if we will see somebody with that strength, that power, that speed with the ability to still jump east and west and straight up. He can jump east and west and finish, which is tough and makes it hard for defenses to guard him.”