The New Orleans Pelicans were drawing rave reviews for the past few weeks; now that they're getting their entire roster healthy, the Pelicans are now viewed by some as one of the most legitimate contenders in a stacked Western Conference. This is not wishful thinking; as one would recall, the Pelicans were the first seed in the West last season before Zion Williamson went down with injury.

However, the Pelicans have been encountering growing pains despite having a healthy roster, the latest pain point coming on Tuesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant's return to the hardwood reinvigorated the Grizzlies, with Morant nailing a game-winning floater to earn a 115-113 victory for Memphis over New Orleans.

Nonetheless, the Pelicans know that the game wasn't exactly lost in those final seconds. In fact, head coach Willie Green couldn't believe the glaring lack of free-throw attempts for Zion Williamson, who struggled on the night to the tune of just 13 points on a poor 5-12 shooting night, while getting to the charity stripe just twice for four attempts.

“They got to the free-throw line. Zion shoots four free throws. Jaren Jackson Jr. shoots 15. I feel like Zion attacks the paint just as much as anybody. For him to only get four free throws, that’s something that hurt us,” Green said in his postgame presser, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com.

Jaren Jackson Jr. is averaging just 6.1 free throw attempts heading into Tuesday night, so it's not hard to see why Pelicans head coach Willie Green feels so hard done by the fact that the Grizzlies big man shot 15 freebies. Meanwhile, Zion Williamson is averaging 7.0, so the officials were clearly content to swallow their whistle on some of his drives.

Coming up against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, however, would make things difficult for any paint scorer, even for someone as elite as the Pelicans forward. Williamson loves to go up and power his way through contact, but Jackson knows how to protect the rim as well as anyone in the league right now, so it's understandable too if the highflying lefty wasn't able to draw as many fouls as he usually does.