Pelicans 104, Nets 91: Zion Williamson 28 points | Postgame wrap

Only four of New Orleans’ final 15 regular season games are against sub-.500 opponents, making it imperative that New Orleans takes care of business in matchups like Tuesday’s road-trip opener. The Pelicans were ready to do damage immediately in Barclays Center, building a 24-point first-half lead and going into intermission up 19. Brooklyn made a few minor runs in the second half, but never seriously threatened, as New Orleans won its fourth consecutive road game, all against Eastern Conference opponents. “This is a game we needed to get to start our road trip, understanding what we have at stake, trying to get to the playoffs, trying to get to 50 wins,” said guard CJ McCollum, who scored 16 points and canned four three-pointers. “We’ve got a lot we want to accomplish. It starts with being able to win games on the road against teams under .500.”

Zion second-half takeover.
In a second half that reverted to low-scoring (Brooklyn won it 46-40), slower-tempo basketball, Zion Williamson managed to produce half of his team’s points, rolling to 20 after intermission and finishing with a team-best 28. Williamson registered his sixth straight game of tallying at least 20 points, tied for his longest stretch of the campaign, despite being hampered with initial foul trouble (two personals in the first four minutes of the game). He tormented the Nets in the paint in the latter half, scoring on post-ups and athletic driving layups. Williamson shot 11/16 from the field.
Setting the tone.
Williamson was able to effectively move into the role of “closer” late because New Orleans used contributions from a myriad of players to grab a quick lead and go up 64-45 at halftime. McCollum ripped off three first-quarter treys among his 13 first-half points, while two New Orleans subs cracked double digits in scoring, as the second unit dominated its Brooklyn counterparts. Eight of Willie Green’s nine rotation members got in the scorebook during a 37-24 second quarter. "We've got to get off to good starts on the road," McCollum said. "We've got to bring energy, knock down open shots and make the defense pay for helping on (Williamson and Brandon Ingram)."
Defense travels.
What is this, the early-2000s? For the fourth time in its last six road games, New Orleans held its hosts to under 100 points. Brooklyn’s crowd reacted to the offensive power outage Tuesday by doing “The Wave” (more of a 1980s thing), as the Nets shot just 37 percent from the field and 30 percent on threes. “We’ve been great defensively all year,” McCollum said. “I think it’s the understanding of how to win games. You’re going to make shots sometimes, you’re going to miss them (other times). But you can bring effort on the defensive end every night. The better defense you play, the easier it is to get out in transition. I like what we’re doing all season, especially the last month and a half.”

20: New Orleans first-half assists on 26 baskets. Every starter handed out at least two dimes in the opening half.
11, 10, 9: First-half points by (in order) Pelicans subs Larry Nance Jr., Trey Murphy and Brooklyn’s bench as a whole.
3, 4: Winning streaks that New Orleans and Orlando, respectively, will bring into Thursday’s matchup in Florida. The game between rising young teams has been added to NBA TV’s national game schedule, replacing what initially was Brooklyn at Milwaukee.

Williamson was the no-brainer pick for the team’s top player in Week 21, averaging 31.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals as New Orleans went 2-1 (beat Clippers, Portland; lost to Cleveland). It was the fifth time the Duke product was voted by fans on X for the weekly honor, this time garnering 78 percent of ballots. Previous recent winners: Week 15: Zion Williamson; Week 16: Brandon Ingram; Week 17: Zion Williamson; Week 18: None; Week 19: Brandon Ingram; Week 20: Trey Murphy.