The New Orleans Pelicans are surging with just one month left in the regular season.
And Zion Williamson is leading the way.
The Pelicans (40-26) have won five of their past six games, including a 112-104 home victory against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night. Williamson had 34 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and in the past four games he has averaged 29.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
Williamson and the Pelicans will try to continue their success when they host the Portland Trail Blazers (19-47) on Saturday night.
“It’s just getting to that part of the season,” said Williamson, who made 14 of 21 shots from the field against the Clippers. “I’m just letting my teammates know, ‘I’m here. I’m with y’all.’ Whether it’s diving on the floor, defense, passing, scoring; just letting them know, ‘I’m with y’all.'”
The Pelicans have been allowing Williamson to initiate the offense for a significant portion of games, and for a crucial stretch of the fourth quarter against the Clippers he played center.
The versatility has made him extremely difficult for defenses to match up against.
In the third quarter, Williamson scored the Pelicans’ first 10 points and totaled 16 in the period, making all seven of his field-goal attempts.
“I’m a competitor. I want to win. Simple as that,” Williamson said of his dominance.
New Orleans’ only defeat in the past six games was a lackluster performance in a 116-95 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Even in that game Williamson had 33 points and nine rebounds.
“We’re super proud of how we responded, protecting home floor, and our guys collectively made winning plays after winning plays,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of Friday’s performance.
The Blazers expect to have leading scorer Anfernee Simons back after he sat out a 105-93 home loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday.
Simons has had a sore knee, but his absence against the Knicks was due more to the fact that he played 43 minutes during a 106-102 win over the Atlanta Hawks the night before.
“He’d been toughing it out, and then he played 40 minutes,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “He gave me all he had.”
Portland, which finished 2-4 on its just-completed homestand, also played without second-leading scorer Jerami Grant (hamstring), who is listed as doubtful for Saturday.
“We try to play the same way regardless of who’s out there,” Billups said. “Sometimes you’ve got so much youth on the floor that you can’t get to the sets. Teams step up the pressure and the timing of the play is off, and we turn the ball over or we shortcut the play and shoot a tough shot.”
The Blazers trailed by just one point after the first quarter, but fell behind by 14 at halftime after shooting just 23.5 percent from the floor in the second quarter.
Center Deandre Ayton finished with 31 points and 14 rebounds but couldn’t stop the Blazers from being outscored 58-34 in the paint.
Portland and New Orleans have met just once this season. The Pelicans won 93-84 on Feb. 10 in Portland. These teams will finish the season series April 9 in Portland.
–Field Level Media