Zion Rocks Brooklyn
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
The Brooklyn Nets chances of reaching the playoffs this season are fading fast and were not helped by the Zion Williamson Show hitting Barclays Center Tuesday night. The unique explosive 23-year-old talent finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists as his New Orleans Pelicans rolled over the Nets 104-91. The Nets now stand at 26-43, half4 ½ games out of the 10th and final Play-In spot for the playoffs. New Orleans has a record of 42-26 and have matched their win total from a season ago. With 14 games remaining New Orleans has the fifth best record in the Western Conference. “It’s very exciting but we got to keep building,” said Zion Williamson after the game, who has yet to play in the postseason in his five years in the NBA. “We talked about it in the beginning of the season, and in the middle of the season, and now we’re coming towards the end of the season. We just got to keep getting better because we want to be a contender. We got to keep getting better with those small nuances in the game.”
In the third quarter Zion gave many of the spectators what they came to see as he threw down a spectacular lob thrown by teammate Naji Marshall on a fast break after Marshall stole the ball from Nets swingman Cam Thomas. “Throw it up,” Zion said he was thinking as he saw Marshall steal the ball and start a two-man fast break between the two of them. “It was crazy because me and him had just talked about it,” he said, ‘Hey man when you go to the paint you need to start dunking’ so when he got the steal I said, ‘oh he’s throwing. He threw a good pass and I just went and got it.”
For the Nets Cam Thomas led the team in points with 25, Mikal Bridges had 15, and Dennis Schroder finished with 12.
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