Zion Williamson’s infamous “back seat” comments after the New Orleans Pelicans’ 136-124 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 12 may go down as the moment everything changed for this New Orleans team. Even though it’s unclear if Williamson understood the ripple effect his comments would have on the organization, there’s no denying they have had an effect.

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After that ugly loss a few weeks ago, the Pelicans’ fifth straight after a 4-1 start to the season, Williamson vented his frustration with his own slow start and the team’s struggles.

“Last year, we had a team meeting and we brought up some things I can do better, especially with buying into the program,” he said. “Right now, it’s tough. I’m taking a little bit of a back seat right now. I’m trusting the process. I’m trying my best to buy in right now.”

Those words at least partially motivated the Pelicans to hold an hour-long team meeting the following day to allow the players to spotlight their issues and establish common ground on finding a solution before the season spiraled further. However, there was one more after-effect brought on by Williamson’s comments: They put the spotlight firmly on him and what he was — or wasn’t — doing to get his team out of their rut. How would he respond?

In perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this saga for the Pelicans, Williamson has done exactly what superstars should do in moments of adversity — even self-inflicted ones. He has raised his game.

In the eight games he played before the team meeting, Williamson was averaging what would have been career-low numbers: 21.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game on 51.5 percent from the field and just 61.4 percent on 7.1 free-throw attempts per game. In the nine games he has played since, those stats are up to 25.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game on 61.7 percent from the field and 70.4 percent on 7.9 free-throw attempts per game — much more in line with his past production when healthy.

As Williamson’s performance has improved, so has the Pelicans’. They’re 7-2 in the last nine games Williamson has played (7-4 in total since the meeting), despite being without CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III in most of those games. While the team is coming off a disappointing 124-118 loss to the Chicago Bulls Saturday, Williamson continued his resurgence, scoring 27 points on just 15 shots in his first appearance this season on the second night of a back-to-back set.

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With their superstar finding his rhythm at the right time, the Pelicans (11-10) head into Monday’s In-Season Tournament knockout-round quarterfinal matchup against the Sacramento Kings as the biggest mystery of the eight teams vying to be the event’s inaugural champion. The Pelicans know they have a chance to beat anyone on any given night when they’re relatively healthy and Williamson’s playing the way he has recently.

Here are a few noticeable reasons he’s hitting his stride:

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He’s converting around the basket again

There aren’t many high-volume scorers in the history of the NBA with as predictable an offensive game as Williamson. Every opposing coaching staff goes into games against the Pelicans knowing Williamson wants to go left and always get to the basket. That hasn’t made his approach any less effective when he’s been on the court.

So when Williamson’s numbers were lower than usual to start the year, there were quite a few theories about potential causes. But as I wrote in the aftermath of Williamson’s controversial comments, the answer to his struggles was fairly simple. The issue wasn’t the way he was being used in the team’s new offense or the place he occupied in its pecking order. He just needed to make shots. More specifically, he needed to be more efficient with his footwork getting to his spots and exhibit better touch around the rim.

Many of his early-season problems were merely due to being  away from the game for such a long time due to previous injuries. We saw Williamson go through a similar ramping-up process at the start of last season. It took him about 8-10 games to start feeling like himself. Then, he took off before his season-ending hamstring injury in early January.

The eight-game mark for Williamson this season coincided with that team meeting after his comments. Once Williamson reached that threshold, things again started turning around for him and the team on offense. Williamson has found his rhythm as a ballhandler and got in better physical condition to sustain playing at a high level for longer periods.

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As his body has started getting right, Williamson has been getting to the rim more often and converting at a much higher rate. In his first eight games, Williamson was shooting a staggeringly low 41.7 percent on plays when he drove to the basket, per NBA.com. His drives also produced just four assists and 10 turnovers through that period. It was about as bad as he’s looked at any point in his career.

Then, the team meeting happened, and his game went up to a different level. Over his last nine outings, Williamson has been shooting 53.5 percent when he drives to the basket, and his drives have resulted in 13 assists and eight turnovers during that stretch. He’s seeing the floor much better and converting on the plays that were falling short earlier in the year.

With Williamson looking more like the unstoppable force he’s been most of his career, the Pels’ coaching staff has leaned on him even more to be the lead ballhandler in half-court sets. Whenever Williamson’s getting to the rack and converting his shots in the paint, the Pelicans’ offense is a complex one to contain.

He’s passing the rock

As Williamson’s driving game has returned, his court vision has taken another step up. Before he finished with just three assists in Saturday’s loss to Chicago, Williamson strung together a streak of eight consecutive games with five or more assists, beating his previous longest streak by three games.

Beyond throwing better passes, though, Williamson is showing a much-improved feel for manipulating defenses and getting the shots he wants for his teammates. More than ever, he’s starting to look like he’s one step ahead of the defense on some of the gorgeous passes he’s been spraying all over the court.

As Williamson’s scoring has improved and the Pelicans have put the ball in his hands more often, defenses are shifting more to ensure they put several bodies in his path. Very few players in the league have to navigate through as many double teams as Williamson does on a nightly basis. That’s in part because Williamson is such an overwhelming scoring threat, but teams also pressured him earlier in his career because he didn’t handle that attention well. A well-timed double-team would either speed him up and lead to an errant pass, or lead to him trying to charge through the wall of bodies before him and hope for the best.

This season, Williamson has been much more calculated when he sees teams loading up to his side of the court. He’s more patient, allowing double teams to come instead of reacting immediately when he sees them forming. He’s learning the value of making the early, easy pass out of the pressure and living with the result.

As the weaponry around him gradually improves, Williamson’s passing will lead to better shot opportunities. Still, when Williamson is playing with an unselfish mindset, it’s much easier for his teammates to buy in on him and everything else he brings.

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Shooters are on the way

While the Pelicans have been fighting to establish some kind of depth and floor spacing with the players they’ve used next to Williamson, they’ve also been victimized by a familiar roadblock: injuries.

However, Williamson’s strong play has coincided with the team finally getting closer to whole. McCollum returned to the lineup last Wednesday after missing the previous 12 games due to a collapsed lung. Murphy played his first game of the season Friday after undergoing offseason knee surgery. (Both McCollum and Murphy rested the second night of the back-to-back against Chicago). Key reserve guard Jose Alvarado is also back in the lineup after missing the first 13 games of the season with an ankle injury.

Those three players are critical to Williamson’s success because they were the three best 3-point shooters on the team last year. In particular, McCollum and Murphy were two of the most efficient high-volume 3-point shooters in the NBA — they were two of the 12 players in the league to shoot at least 38 percent from 3 on more than 450 attempts last season.

Getting them back on the court, along with sharpshooting rookie Jordan Hawkins, will provide Williamson the kind of spacing he’s never experienced. Opponents will genuinely have to pick their poison in half-court sets: Either leave the lane open enough for Williamson and Brandon Ingram to get downhill, or help off some combination of three shooters on the perimeter (McCollum, Murphy and Hawkins) who are capable of splashing five 3-pointers on any given night.

In particular, the Pelicans were encouraged to see the connection between Williamson and Murphy pick up where it left off in Murphy’s debut on Friday. Murphy scored 18 points in 22 minutes off the bench, draining 4-of-10 3-point attempts while making a few other impressive plays off the bounce. Williamson assisted Murphy on four of his baskets (three 3-pointers and one dunk).

Even without much experience playing together, there’s an instant connection that jumps off the screen whenever Williamson and Murphy ping passes back and forth. It’s similar to watching some of the classic point guard/big man two-man sets that certain franchises were built on. They operate on a specific wavelength higher than everything else happening on the court.

Health, as always, is the question in New Orleans. Can Williamson stay on the court? And will his healthy stints coincide with those of other key teammates? Their answers to both of those questions have rarely been in sync at the same time in recent Pelicans history.

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Still, this recent stretch has reminded opponents that stopping Williamson is tough enough when he’s dialed in, and pretty much impossible when this much shooting surrounds him.

(Top photo: Joe Murphy / NBAE via Getty Images)