Zion Williamson drove to the basket for an emphatic dunk over 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama on the opening possession Friday night, igniting the Smoothie King Center crowd in a matchup of franchise cornerstones.
The rest of the home opener did not play out the same way for Williamson or the size-challenged New Orleans Pelicans, who lost 120-116 in overtime to the Spurs while Wembanyama nearly recorded a triple-double before fouling out with 4:17 left in the extra session.
After Williamson missed a free throw that would have given the Pelicans the lead with 12.2 seconds left in regulation and Wembanyama was nowhere close on a baseline turnaround at the buzzer, Wembanyama gave San Antonio a lead it would not relinquish by spinning past rookie Derik Queen for a dunk at the start of overtime. He picked up his sixth foul on the next possession, but Queen hit only one of two free throws, and the Spurs put it away without Wembanyama, getting clutch 3-pointers from Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie.
“I loved our resiliency and our fight throughout the whole game,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “I told our group they’ve got nothing to hang their heads about. I get it. Nobody wants to lose, but those guys battled and were connected. That’s a good team over there, and we gave them everything they wanted and more.”
Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks. Williamson, the top pick four years earlier, tried to match him with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but the Pelicans did not have quite enough.
New Orleans played without starting center Yves Missi, who sprained his right ankle at Memphis on Wednesday, and also remained without power forward Karlo Matkovic, who is out with lower back spasms. Veteran center DeAndre Jordan, a former teammate of Green with the Los Angeles Clippers who signed earlier Friday, did not play.
Lacking any experienced size, the Pelicans went with the 6-foot-7 Saddiq Bey as their nominal center before the 6-10 Queen guarded Wembanyama for long stretches, and the Spurs took advantage. Reserve center Luke Kornet, who averaged 6.0 points for the Boston Celtics last season, scored 12 in the first half on 5-of-5 shooting.
San Antonio outrebounded New Orleans 59-45.
“They definitely hurt us on the boards,” Green said. “Not having some of our centers available tonight was to their advantage, and they capitalized on it. We mixed in the zone to throw them off rhythm, but the one thing in zone is you have to rebound.”
Trey Murphy scored 24 for the Pelicans, adding 10 rebounds and five assists. Jordan Poole contributed 21 points and five assists, while Queen and fellow rookie Jeremiah Fears combined for 28 points.
“I saw a lot of poise from both guys throughout the whole game,” Green said. “You could see their competitiveness. They wanted it. That’s some of the positives we can take away.”
Neither team ever led by double digits in a tightly contested game. After trailing by nine late in the third quarter, the Pelicans scored 11 points in a row spanning the end of the third and the start of the fourth to go up 89-84.
Five different players scored during the spurt. Queen and Williamson hit a pair of free throws as the bookends. Jordan Hawkins had a one-handed jam on a fast break. Fears got an easy lay-up on a backdoor cut. Murphy hit a 3.
San Antonio answered with a 14-0 run while Wembanyama was on the bench, going ahead 100-94 on Champagnie’s putback at the 5:28 mark. New Orleans clawed back again despite having a floater by Jordan Poole wiped away on replay review during a timeout when it was ruled he did not release it before the shot clock expired.
Wembanyama was a wall inside all night, stuffing Williamson twice on one possession soon after the initial dunk. He answered Williamson’s power jam with a soft dunk 15 seconds later, added another one on an alley oop less than two minutes into the game and drove for two more early in the second quarter after faking 3-point attempts.
Wembanyama took over early in the third quarter, beginning with a reverse lay-up, dunking in transition after deflecting a Williams pass and getting a lay-up after swatting Bey’s shot off the backboard.
"There's really not much you can do," Queen said. "He can shoot over you, contest. He (feels like he) is 7-7. That says it all."
The Pelicans fell to 0-2 for the first time since 2021-22, losing their home opener for the first time in three seasons, which also came in overtime to the Utah Jazz.
"It's loss, so I'm not going to say it's encouraging, but we're a different team," Murphy said. "At the end of the day we still have to finish games."