2019 NBA Summer League Results, 5 July: Zion Williamson takes a knock, earthquake plays spoilsport on Day 1
The first day of the NBA Summer League matchups included drama, letdowns, thunderous dunks and of course an unprecedented earthquake to top it all off. Headlined by the clash of former Duke teammates RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson in their summer league debuts, the Knicks-Pelicans contest met a rather unexpected ending.
An earthquake of 7.1 magnitude occurred roughly 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, California, the effects of which were felt in Las Vegas as well and in the Thomas & Mack Center where the aforementioned clash was taking place.
While the Knicks-Pelicans had to be stopped midway through the fourth quarter, the Suns-Nuggets game that was scheduled to be played at the same venue later was eventually postponed.
Of the scheduled ten games, only seven of the 10 games could be conducted in proper fashion. Let's skim through the Day 1 Summer League encounters and all they incorporated.
#1 New York Knicks vs New Orleans Pelicans (Pelicans won 80-74)
In what was a much anticipated showdown between the No. 1 and No. 3 draft picks of this year, there emerged more storylines than priorly imagined. Zion scored a quick 10 points in the first period itself and announced his arrival on the NBA stage, before going down to an unfortunate knee knock in the following quarter and eventually missing the rest of the game.
His friend and former Duke teammate disappointed with a rather dull 4-17 shooting from the field and finished with just 10 points in 25 minutes of playtime. Prior to the tremors bringing the game to a screeching halt in the final seven minutes of the game, Frank Jackson of the Pelicans had already stamped his authority on the game through his 11-of-17 shooting from the floor for a game-high total of 30 points. Both teams headed to the locker rooms post mother nature's intervention and New Orleans were declared winners eventually.