Fourth Quarter Zion Williamson is pretty great when he’s allowed to exist

Fourth Quarter Zion Williamso helped sway the game in the Pelicans’ favor.

So, as it turns out, that’s why it’s a good idea to save Zion Williamson for the fourth quarter.

Look, I’m not here to debate who’s right and who’s wrong in the never-ending debate over how many minutes Zion should be playing, whether the New Orleans Pelicans and their training staff are coddling him, yada yada yada.

But what we can agree on is that if Williamson is on a minutes restriction, the Pelicans should be strategically deploying those minutes throughout the game like breadcrumbs in order to save him for the fourth quarter — especially in close contests.

Head coach Alvin Gentry did a much better job of this on Monday in the Pelicans’ must-win game against the 8-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, and, whaddya know? NOLA actually pulled out that win.

Fourth Quarter Zion Williamson was as fun as we imagined

Finishing his night with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists in just 25 minutes, Williamson had a much longer leash on his playing time and made the absolute most of it. Though he only shot 9-for-21 from the field and missed five of his 10 free throws, the Pelicans rookie was a total game-changer when the Grizzlies threatened to turn another New Orleans lead into a debilitating loss.

Sitting out the final six and a half minutes of the third quarter, Williamson logged 10 of his 25 minutes in the final period. He played the first six minutes of the fourth, took a two-minute breather and then played the final four minutes. When he re-entered the game with 4:29 to play, the Pelicans were clinging to a 97-93 lead. They outscored the Grizzlies 12-6 the rest of the way.

Zion scored six of those final 12 points for New Orleans, bulldozing his way to the hole with that unbelievable combination of speed, burliness and grace that he’s already known for.

One can understand the Pelicans’ hesitancy to rush him back too soon, and executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin did an excellent job explaining it in a sideline interview over the weekend.

The kid is already a bona fide superstar, and the future of the franchise rests on him. He’s too valuable to risk his long-term health. For a player who’s not in ideal shape, dealt with a knee injury to start his rookie year, came back for only 19 regular-season games, was away from NBA basketball for four-and-a-half months due to the suspended season, had to ramp basketball activity back up and then wound up having to leave the court for nearly two weeks to tend to a family matter right in the middle of all that … yeah, the soft tissue injury concerns are very real.

But with more strategic planning, the Pelicans showed what can happen when Zion is allotted more time late in close games.

“I feel alive again, man,” he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews in his televised post-game interview. “My competitive spirit was there.”

We know, Zion. And we’re damn happy to see you out there in the fourth quarter again.