Listen, we need to talk about Anthony Davis, we need to talk about how good he’s become. On opening night, Davis dropped a near triple-double on the Orlando Magic en route to a 101-84 victory for the Pelicans. When it was all said and done, Davis had 29 points, 17 rebounds, 9 blocks, 3 steals, 2 assists and didn’t turn the ball over. Not once.
He’s not LeBron James or Kevin Durant but man, after that, who are you taking over him? Certainly not Melo. He can’t impact the game on both ends like Davis. Blake Griffin? Nah. Nowitzki, Harden, Love. Nope, nope and nope.
We saw the transition over the summer with Team USA. In a game against Turkey, the team turned to Davis after facing a second half deficit. He responded with 19 points, all scored in a variety of ways. It was Davis’ coming out moment. Not long after, John Calipari added his .02.
“Right now, you look at (Davis) and say, ‘Man, in five years, he could be the best player in the NBA,’ ” Calipari said. “And this USA Basketball stuff pushes that date sooner. Again, here’s what it does for him: how to work, new things to add to his game, and confidence like, ‘These are the best in the world, so I’m all right.’”
But back to last night, because seriously, we’re not talking about that enough. Davis is the first person since Hakeem Olajuwon to put up those kinds of numbers. Here are some GIFs.
