New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson is one of the most difficult players to guard in the league due to his physicality and explosiveness. But LeBron James was up to the task in the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season finale.
LeBron was the primary defender on Williamson for most of the night, limiting the All-Star to just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting in the Lakers’ victory. As a whole, the team’s defense was locked in, forcing 19 Pelicans turnovers and holding them below 30 points in each of the first three quarters.
As far as head coach Darvin Ham is concerned, it was LeBron who set that defensive tone by taking on the challenge of guarding Williamson, and the rest of the Lakers followed suit, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It just sets a tone. Usually it’s AD setting that tone, a couple other guys, but with Bron, just him setting that tone. That’s a huge challenge, that kid is a hell of a basketball player, the physicality in which he plays with, his athleticism and ability to finish with either hand around the basket and constantly play downhill, it’s a huge challenge that he took on and again, it sends the message to the rest of our team that a guy of Bron’s stature and his tenure steps up to the plate to defend a young superstar like that.
“No one else can make excuses, it completely set the base for our defense and guys responded by getting deflections, forcing those guys into 19 turnovers. It was great. Our activity was at a high, high level.”
The Lakers are always at their best when they are locked in defensively and the Pelicans are a very dangerous team with a number of weapons, none more destructive than Williamson. But as Ham noted, when it’s 39-year old LeBron James taking on that challenge, there is no excuse for anyone else.
But it wasn’t just defensively in which James led the way as he also finished with 17 assists on the night, 13 of those coming in the first half, to cap the regular season with a triple-double. And Ham credited LeBron with making the right decisions against a good defensive team:
“He’s setting the table. He can always eat whenever he decides to, but he’s just setting the table for everyone else. We shared the wealth, 32 assists. I think we had something similar to that the last time we played these guys. But we know this is a great defensive ballclub and they’re gonna force you to make the simple play, to make multiple plays. So you can’t stall out after the first option is not available, you got to go to the second option and even the third option at times.
“But that’s New Orleans, they’re good in transition, they’re good in the halfcourt with their deflections and ability to get steals, the way they activate the backside of their defense by shifting and taking away your rollers and forcing you to find the right pass. So it was great. We kept it simple, we kept the ball moving, played with a lot of pace and made quick decisions. I think that fed right into what you saw from Bron.”
The challenge now for the Lakers will be to repeat that performance on Tuesday when they again take on the Pelicans in the first game of the Play-In Tournament. Not only will LeBron need to be locked in, but the entire team has to be focused as New Orleans will be looking for some revenge.
Lakers LeBron James treating second game vs. Pelicans like a playoff series
The Lakers reward for defeating the Pelicans in the regular season finale is to stay in New Orleans for another meeting between the two teams in the Play-In Tournament. And with back-to-back games against the same team, LeBron James compared this to something like a playoff series.
The Lakers superstar noted that the Lakers can’t afford to get too high after one win because there’s another game coming. And LeBron expects this second game to be much more difficult and physical than the last one as the Pelicans have time to make adjustments and the Lakers must enter the game with a sense of urgency.
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