Pelicans at Bulls
Zion Williamson got his chance to go up against the reigning MVP on Tuesday and found himself faced with more defensive pressure than he's seen so far in his brief NBA career. Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans will try to bounce back when they continue the road trip by visiting the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
Williamson shot better than 50 percent from the floor in each of his first six career games but was knocked around a bit on Tuesday by the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks and finished 5-of-19 from the floor. "I'm not sure to be honest," Williamson, who finished with 20 points and went 10-of-14 from the free throw line, told reporters when asked if he could recall having a rough shooting night. "It was one of those nights where I couldn't get my second jump layup to fall. It was very frustrating, but my teammates were in my ear telling me to keep going." The Bulls are returning home after going 0-3 on their just-completed road trip, capped by a dispiriting second half in a 129-102 setback at Toronto on Monday. "The first half the ball was moving," Chicago coach Jim Boylen told reporters. "Made open shots. I thought the third quarter we had the same plays to make. We didn't make them and I thought we dropped our heads a little bit in that third when the ball wasn't going in and they made their run. We've got different guys playing, new guys playing and we got guys out. We've got to learn how to play in that third quarter when the ball is not going in."
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS New Orleans, NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE PELICANS (20-31): New Orleans went into halftime with a lead over Milwaukee before being outscored 42-24 in the third quarter and ended up falling 120-108 while shooting 38.4 percent from the floor, but Brandon Ingram managed to avoid his team’s shooting slump. The All-Star swingman poured in 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting to help keep his team in the game. "Well, it's important for me to just continue to just take whatever the defense gives me," Ingram told reporters ."If it's 3-pointers, driving to the lane and getting to the basket, if it's driving to the bucket and hitting a guy for an open three, or whatever it is I think it's important for me to be aggressive and for (Williamson) to do the exact same thing. It's playing in space, whenever another guy comes just find the open guy, and just making the game a little easier."
ABOUT THE BULLS (19-33): Chicago is battling through a slew of injuries and star gard Zach LaVine is seeing an increase in defensive pressure with other offensive options sidelined. LaVine, who averages 24.9 points, was held below that mark in all three games on the road trip and went a combined 2-of-18 from 3-point range. "I'm just upset," LaVine told the team's website after the latest setback. "It gets frustrating when you lose games. I've been going through it the last three years here. It just gets frustrating. It's like anybody else in our position. We're human. You have human reactions and feelings. I get frustrated eventually."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bulls PG Kris Dunn will miss at least two weeks after being diagnosed with a sprained MCL.
2. Pelicans C Derrick Favors went scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting Tuesday after going 17-of-25 over the previous four contests.
3. New Orleans earned a 123-108 home win over Chicago on Jan. 8 behind 29 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds from Ingram.