It was a dog fight won by Zion Williamson against a Timberwolves team that gave the Pelicans everything they could handle in New Orleans Wednesday night. The game came down to the wire, with Anthony Edwards missing a baseline fadeaway as the horn sounded, giving the Pelicans a 119-118 win.
Williamson scored 33 of his season-high 43 points in the second half, including a furious stretch in the final three minutes of the game when on consecutive possessions hit knocked down a pair of free throws, buried a 3-pointer, made two athletic layups and then stole the ball and dunked to put the Pelicans up 118-116 with just under 40 seconds to go.
All-NBA @Zionwilliamson. Career-high 43 and the dub‼️‼️‼️‼️#DukeintheNBA pic.twitter.com/rUv7UKmfFG
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) December 29, 2022
On the next possession, Anthony Edwards exploded down the lane for a huge two-handed dunk with 29 seconds to go to the game.
Anthony Edwards driving dunk in crunch time holy shit pic.twitter.com/tqnvU4h2ou
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) December 29, 2022
The Pelicans missed a 3 the next trip down but an offensive board by Jaxon Hayes led to Williamson driving and getting fouled. He hit the first free throw and missed the second, with the Wolves grabbing the rebound and calling timeout with 3.5 seconds to go, ultimately leading to Edwards’ fadeaway coming up short.
After getting benched late in Minnesota’s disappointing loss in Miami on Monday, Rudy Gobert responded with 10 points, including multiple ferocious dunks, eight rebounds and four much-needed blocks.
Edwards and D’Angelo Russell led the Wolves with 27 points apiece, while Williamson erupted for 43 points and was an unstoppable force in the second half, when he bullied the Wolves for 33 of his points.
The game could’ve unraveled when Gobert picked up his third and fourth fouls within the first 80 seconds of the third quarter. But Minnesota held tough, going toe-to-toe with the Pelicans and held the lead from 58-54 when Gobert went out to 88-86 going to the fourth quarter.
And they held that lead despite Williamson exploding for 19 points in the third quarter.
Jaden McDaniels and Jaylen Nowell were excellent for Minnesota. Nowell had 14 points off the bench and McDaniels finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Minnesota has dropped four straight games and is now 16-19 overall.
Up next: Timberwolves at Bucks, Friday at 7 p.m. CT
