Williamson gets second triple-double in two weeks in Pelicans' win over Clippers

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Shortly after Zion Williamson's second triple-double in two weeks, he was asked whether he might be in the best shape of his career, and if he'd really shed as many as 20 pounds from his listed weight of 284.

The 6-foot-6 star power forward smiled as he began to deliver his teasing answer.

“I guess I'm going to do what I've been doing my whole career,” Williamson said. "I'll let the media have fun with it.”

Whatever the case, Williamson is showing an ability to take over games in spectacular fashion, and delight fans who still show up to see him play out what has become — as far as the standings go — a lost season.

“When he makes his mind up that he’s going to attack, there’s really nothing teams can do. He’s been doing that lately, even in limited minutes,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said after his team's 127-120 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

“When he’s in high-level conditioning, like he is, he’s really tough to guard and he’s doing it all," Green said. "He’s rebounding. He’s defending.”

Williamson's 22-point, 12-assist and 10-rebound performance against the playoff-contending Clippers was an exhibition of contagious energy and force.

“Huge blocks. Huge rebounds," Green said. "He split a double-team, went down the lane and finished with a monster dunk. Those type of energy plays really get us going.”

Fans who've long since given up on seeing the Pelicans in the postseason were on their feet and jubilant at the sight of Williamson beating the clock at the end of the third quarter with an end-to-end, full-speed dribble and soaring dunk — which he punctuated by throwing a few punches into the padding under the basket.

The play set the stage for a dominant fourth quarter in which Williamson had 10 points, five assists and five rebounds.

“Once I found that rhythm, I just kind of got in that zone," Williamson said. "I’d come too far to lose this game.”

The Pelicans entered this season hoping the trio of Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum could make the club a dark-horse contender. That fizzled when all three were injured early in the season.

The 24-year-old Williamson, plagued by injuries during much of his first six NBA seasons, missed 27 straight games with a hamstring injury. As the trade deadline neared, the Pelicans dealt Ingram, who was in his final season under contract, to Toronto.

The move signaled the Pelicans' intention to move into the coming offseason with Williamson as their centerpiece. Williamson has responded with the first two triple-doubles of his career — the first coming when he had 27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a victory at Phoenix on Feb. 28.

“He’s different,” said veteran wing Bruce Brown, who was traded to New Orleans last month. “Once he turns it on, once he comes in and wants to be aggressive, nobody can stop him. Even if they have a big sitting in the paint, there’s really nothing you can do.”

Pelicans reserve center Mo Bamba, who had played against Williamson previously and made his debut with New Orleans on Tuesday, put it another way.

“His launch pad. It’s just, like, it’s crazy,” Bamba said, adding that Williamson's “passing ability is so underrated.”

Williamson has scored 20 or more points in 10 of the 12 games in which he's played since the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline. The first of those was a 40-point night at Sacramento on Feb. 8. He scored 37 against the Lakers in Los Angeles last week.

“The physical ability has always been there,” McCollum said. “But I think mentally he’s taking the next step.”

Williamson said he isn't sure if it's for him to judge whether he's now playing the best basketball of his career, but he added, "This is the best I’ve felt, offensively and defensively.”

And lately, the fact that the Pelicans have little riding on each game hasn't diminished Williamson's intensity.

“It comes down to being a pro and what you want to get out of it," he said. "The season hasn't gone the way we wanted it to, but that don't mean we can't build into something next year, build into better habits.”

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