Pelicans play through frustrations in opening-night win vs. Grizzlies

Watching from the hallway,“Happywith it, not satisfied with it”,was overheard as the NewOrleans Pelicans marched away from the FedEx Forum with a victoryover the Memphis Grizzlies.

The divisional rivals were both missing key pieces but ZionWilliamson finished off the hosts with 12-straight points to closeout the Game 1 win. New Orleans head coach Willie Green admittedthere were some frustrating moments but “it is easier to teach offof a win than a loss.”

The postgame locker room message ended with Coach’s understated,“81 more to go.” Everything wasn't going to come together all atonce for a team trying to shed unflattering narratives from thelast few seasons.

“The biggest discussion that we'll have is it’s going to behard," Green said. "We should expect that night-in and night-out.The NBA is going to be hard, and teams aren't going to let us justcome down and execute. We have to be the team that's more forceful,and we did that tonight.”

Memphis might have been missing Stephen Adams and Ja Morant, butNew Orleans has dealt with those issues for years. No one showsmercy in the NBA and the Pelicans' Big Three did their job. C.J.McCollum poured in 24 points, Zion added 23, and Brandon Ingram’s19 points made 66 points from the team’s stars. It took Williamsona while to get going, scoring only 7 first-half points on two madeshots, but the highlight dunk at the end of the second quartermight’ve awakened a monster season.

“It helped,” Williamson admitted, “For me, I think it's going tobe a few games, just getting that in-game flow back. No matter howmuch I train, workout, play pickup, it’s nothing like a real NBAgame. [I] give Jaren [Jackson Jr.] his respect. I think it actuallyworked out for me, just playing against the Defensive Player of theYear in the first game and just kind of feeling out how he’s goingto jump for shots, how certain teams will try to guard me. Thesecond half was more so just kind of feeling the game.”

Ingram needed 18 shots to notch 19 points but McCollum was“elite,” according to Green. McCollum felt Williamson “settled inand got more comfortable as the game went on. Kind of felt out thedefense and obviously how they were, how they were calling thegame, and you got to get more aggressive. We did a better job ofgetting the ball in spots where he’d be successful, and he finishedplays and did what he does.”

“A couple of times we got ahead of ourselves to turn the ballover and things of that nature," added McCollum. "I just have tomake sure I keep us settled, but I can score the ball. I can get tocertain spots, and I'll continue to develop and get better as weplay together more. I think that'll be helpful for all of us, thespacing, play calling, when to make the pass and when to cut. Allof those things we'll continue to get better at, but I like thesteps that we made from Sept. 28 to now."

There are still a lot of wrinkles to work out with this roster.Overlooked addition turned Twitter-trending star enjoying his firstpostgame podium Matt Ryan shared, “There really hasn't been muchtime to get acclimated with everybody off the court. I flew inMonday morning to New Orleans and tonight is Wednesday, so I'vebeen with the team for... this is like the third day I've been withthe team. They kind of knew who I was. Everybody at this pointknows what I'm looking to do out there, and again I just got tothank the front office and coaches for giving me this chance.”

I asked Coach Green if there was anything they could take awayfrom Opening Night that had long-term value. He replied, “Thebiggest clarity that we have is that we want to be a mentally toughteam. We did that tonight. Coming on their floor and carving out awin with different lineups. Throwing zones at them, switching onethrough five... all the things that we've been working on inpractice. It was great to see us come to somebody's home floor andhave toughness, execution and communication and to do it withjoy.”

There are always frustrations during the NBA's first 10-gamefeeling-out process. Next up is Josh Hart’s return with the NewYork Knicks. A 2-0 start while showing the same resiliency would goa long way in the effort to win back skeptical fans.

“Look at the teams that win the championship; they’re consistentwith the small things on a day-to-day basis," Williamson said,echoing Green. "So, if we can get to a championship level, with thesmall things, I think we got a good chance.”