Things got chippy in New Orleans Friday night, with Suns players critical of Zion Williamson for throwing down an uncontested windmill slam in the closing seconds of a game the Pelicans were already leading by nine points. Phoenix, frustrated at losing its third straight game following lopsided defeats to Boston and Dallas earlier this week, took obvious offense, leading to a testy exchange between Chris Paul and Jose Alvarado at midcourt.
Williamson could be accused of running up the score, going for another bucket instead of dribbling out the clock, as is customary when holding an insurmountable lead in the game’s final moments. Of course, if you wanted to play Devil’s advocate, you could argue Paul was guilty of a similar breach of etiquette, padding his stats—or at least trying to—with a meaningless layup seconds earlier.
These teams have a history, meeting last year in one of the more memorable playoff series we’ve seen, with Alvarado, a pesky defender whose lack of size (6’0”/179) is offset by his utter fearlessness, driving Paul up a wall, bothering him to the point where the two almost came to blows. After the game, Zion himself admitted the dunk wasn’t his finest moment, an uncharacteristic lapse in judgment by an inexperienced player caught up in the moment.
Williamson’s showboating, putting an exclamation point on an emphatic victory over an opponent seen by many as the team to beat in the Western Conference, is similar to the “unwritten rules” conversation in baseball, an imaginary standard upheld by joyless purists hellbent on policing younger, disproportionately ethnic players for showing even the slightest personality.
Sportsmanship is relative, something to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Regardless of whether Williamson crossed a line, disrespecting a team that’s accomplished (at least at this early juncture) more than he has, there’s no denying the Suns and Pelicans are developing a healthy distaste for each other, escalating what is quickly becoming one of the sport’s fiercest rivalries.
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