After a rocky start to Zion Williamson’s return to the court, the Pelicans have found their stride over the last three games and are starting to resemble the side many people expected them to be this season. Wins by 15, 14 and 28 points over Boston, Cleveland and Memphis, respectively, have New Orleans on the right track as they look to piece together a run at the eighth seed.
After the latter of those games, the team’s second blowout win over the Grizzlies this season, Ball talked about how the team is gelling in recent games.
“I thought it was going to look like this from the beginning, honestly. We knew it was going to be a process. But I think we’re finally figuring it out, building up the chemistry. Incorporating Zion back, you know, is good for us. Hopefully, we keep trending upward.”
While it’s obviously an incredibly small sample size, over the last three games, the Pelicans have a net rating of +17.4, the top mark in the league. Even when stretched out to the five games since Williamson’s return, the team has a net rating of +8.5, the fourth-best mark in the league in that span.
It is a small sample size and an unsustainable rate but considering where the Pelicans were pre-Zion, it’s a sign of how big his impact is and what kind of team they can be with him.
