J-Speaks: Pelicans' Anthony Davis For MVP, Possibly?

Back on Jan. 26, the New Orleans Pelicans won versus the now Western Conference leading Houston Rockets (48-13) 115-113 but lost All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to a ruptured left Achilles tendon, that required season-ending surgery. Most in NBA circles thought this was end for the Pelicans dreams of making the playoffs as they dropped five of their next six games. It was then that the other Pelicans’ All-Star Anthony Davis kicked it into high gear and led the Pelicans on a run that breached the start of the All-Star break and then after that changed that perception. 

Following a disappoint 100-82 loss at the Philadelphia 76ers (34-27) on Feb. 9, the Pelicans started a seven-game winning streak from Feb. 10 to their latest victory, 121-116 victory at the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs (36-26) on Wednesday night, and they have been led in a major way by Davis. 

In the first six games of the Pelicans’ seven straight victories, Davis averaged 41.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per contest. On four occasions Davis topped 40 points or more in four of those six wins. In the month of February, Davis has garnered five 40-point, 10-rebound, which is the most in the last 35 seasons. 

 As a result, the Pelicans had moved up to the No. 5 spot in the very crowded Western Conference, but even with this seven-game winning streak they have dropped to the No. 7 spot, but they are just ½ a game behind the No. 6 Seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (38-28); the No. 5 Seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (37-27), the No. 4 Seeded Spurs (36-26) and the No. 3 Seeded Portland Trail Blazers (36-26). 

This great stretch by the Pelicans, with Davis leading the way has many asking can he win league MVP for the 2017-18 season? 

The numbers make a serious case for him, even though four out of the seven opponents are under .500 and are making plans for the NBA Draft Lottery in May. Aside from the Miami Heat (32-30) and the Spurs, the other opponents have been to be kind subpar when it comes to playing consistent defense. 

The flipside of this coin is the Pelicans were struggling since Cousins went down and the sign of a great player is rising to occasions when the circumstances command you to do so. That is the initiative Davis took and it has paid off for the Pelicans. 

It began for Davis with a performance of 44 points, 17 rebounds, six steals and three blocks in helping the Pelicans to a 138-128 win in double overtime at the Brooklyn Nets (20-43) on Feb. 10. 

It is because of Davis, veteran lead guard Rajon Rondo’s triple-double of 22 points, 12 assists and 10 boards, 21 points, 16 rebounds and five block shots from Nikola Mirotic and 12 points from E’Twuan that the Pelicans gathered themselves from a heartbreaking loss after leading by as many as 28 points in the third quarter.

Davis score four points during a 7-0 run by the Pelicans that put them up six 130-124 with 2:50 remaining in the second overtime. Rondo put the game away with three free throws.

“I think it could have been easy for us to just kind of cave in when we had the big lead and they came back,” Pelicans’ head coach Alvin Gentry, whose team was outscored 76-66 in the second half said after the win. “But I was really proud of the guys hanging in there and keep fighting and fighting and find a way to win the game.”

Two nights later at the Detroit Pistons (29-33), Davis had 38 points and 10 boards in leading the Pelicans to a 118-103 win. He scored 10 of the Pelicans 28 points in the second quarter, that powered them to a 60-52 lead at intermission. 

On Valentine’s night, there was a lot of love from the 15,436 at the Smoothie King Center as their home standing Pelicans clobbered the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 139-117, powered by a franchise record 46 points in the first quarter. 

Davis led the way with 42 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks on 15 for 18 shooting, and 10 for 11 at the foul line. 

“I was just being aggressive,” the five-time All-Star, who was elected to the starting lineup for the All-Star Game in Los Angeles, CA last month said. “We’re on a good little roll and we’re playing with a lot of confidence. We wanted to make sure we finished on a good note before this break. Now we have to make sure we keep it going and come out with a lot of energy after the break.” 

The Pelicans showed that energy and they needed all of it as they outlasted a gritty Miami Heat (32-30) team in their first game following the week -break 124-123 on overtime as Davis led the way with 45 points, 17 rebounds, five blocks and five steals on Feb. 23.  

That same resolve came this past Sunday afternoon as the Pelicans led by Davis and lead guard Jrue Holiday powered a come from behind 123-121 overtime win at the Milwaukee Bucks (33-29). 

Holiday led the with 28 of his 36 points after intermission where the Pelicans, who have had their struggles this season in the third quarter, outscored the home town Bucks 38-19 in the period. Davis had 27 points, 13 boards, two blocks and two steals for the Pelicans, who overcame an 18-point deficit in the second half. 

After getting off to a rough start where they trailed 36-26 after the opening stanza, Davis and Pelicans outscored the visiting Phoenix Suns (19-45) 99-80 over the final three quarters on their way to a 125-116 win, their sixth in succession. 

Davis was incredible with a season-high 53 points, just five shy of his career-high, he grabbed 18 rebounds and had five block shots. He went 16 for 29 shooting from the field, and 21 for 26 from the free throw line. 

The win by the Pelicans that got Davis into the MVP discussion was their latest one, when they garnered their seventh in succession, their as mentioned longest since 2011 with a 121-116 win at the Spurs on Wednesday night. 

Davis led the way with 26 points, and 15 rebounds as the Pelicans overcame a 15-point deficit, which included a rally in the final two minutes to take down the Spurs on their home floor. They outscored the Spurs 70-56 in the second 24 minutes, including 34-21 in the fourth period. 

Davis scored on an alley-oop dunk that puts the Pelicans up 114-113 with under two minutes left. He then made a couple of free throws that gave the Pelicans a 119-116 lead. 

Reserves Patty Mills and Rudy Gay missed three-pointers on the Spurs final possession and the Pelicans sealed their first win at the Spurs since a Nov. 8, 2014 victory at AT&T Center. 

“We were beating ourselves,” Davis, whose team snapped a five-game skid in the “Alamo City” said of the team’s rough first half where they trailed 60-51 at intermission. “A lot of turnovers and bad shots. A lot of stuff was coming easy for them. In order for us to win this game we had to buckle down defensively. 

The Pelicans did that holding the Spurs to 9 for 26 from three-point range; were only out-rebounded 54-52; held them to two fast break points on the night; scored 17 points off of 11 Spurs turnovers. 

The question asked earlier was can Davis win league MVP this season? It is a long shot, especially with the way James Harden and the Houston Rockets are playing? 

He at least has played his way into the conversation. When as mentioned earlier when Cousins went down with his season-ending injury, Davis had to as he mentioned to “NBA: The Jump” host Rachel Nichols of ESPN during All-Star weekend adopt a Russell Westbrook mentality. 

Before Cousins went down, he and Davis were on pace to become the first teammates in the history of the NBA to average 25 points and 10 boards. Of all the superstar big men combinations like Hall of Famer David Robinson and future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan of the Spurs; Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets back in the middle of the 1980s as two examples, Cousins and Davis were on the verge of accomplishing that. 

When Davis was asked by Nichols what could have been, he says he thinks about it all the time. 

“You think about all of it,” Davis said. “Rondo reminds us of it. You guys are the two best bigs. I know what it takes to win championships We got it.” 

With that off the board, for likely a year-and-a-half it has gone back to as Davis mentioned, “A.D. before DeMarcus,” where he needs to play a lot of minutes, and basically get 40 points and 20 rebounds with a few blocks mixed in for the Pelicans to even have a chance to garner a victory. 

Davis has not only risen to the moment, he has accepted it, exceeded it, and has risen the play of the likes of Rondo, Mirotic, who the team acquired shortly after the loss of Cousins and Holiday, which is even a bigger sign of why he is in the conversation for league MVP this season. 

The issue is that, “The Brow” as Davis is affectionally known as is in New Orleans, LA, and the team many believe is not a championship level team as ESPN First Take’s said earlier this week. Even if they climb to as high as the No. 4 Seed, they will have an early exit in the postseason if they make there. 

“When you look at this team, and you know that he doesn’t have much of a team around him,” he said. “Jrue Holiday can play, we understand that. DeMarcus Cousins, ‘Boogie Cousins,” he’s down and out right now. He’s out for the rest of the season with the Achilles. But the bottom line is we didn’t view this team as somebody that was elite.” 

Smith added, “If they were in the Eastern Conference, they’d clearly be one of the Top 3 teams because this brother Anthony Davis is one of the Top 3 players in the world. He’s a flat-out superstar. He’s been averaging at least 10 rebounds per game for the last five years. Not to mention the fact that this is the second year in a row he’s averaging better than 28 (points). He simply has the entire offensive arsenal at his disposal. Not to mention how formidable he is defensively.” 

“The only debate is, where is he in the Top 3 in the entire NBA? But we’re not talking about him enough because we don’t have expectations for New Orleans and as a result because of that, you look at them knowing that there not really going anywhere.” 

While that may be true, there were no expectations for the Oklahoma City Thunder last season, and Russell Westbrook without his All-Star running and 2014 league MVP Kevin Durant by his side garnered a single-season record 42 triple-doubles garnering league MVP as his team had a 47-35 record and was bounced in the opening round by Harden and the Rockets in five games. 

It would be wonderful if this were to happen again, especially for a guy that has been from Day One when he arrived in the league as the No. 1 overall pick by New Orleans. It is something that really does not matter to Davis. 

As Nichols said during her intro on “NBA: The Jump” earlier this week that Davis has recalled being in the race for the NBA’s most prestigious individual honor three years ago. That same year, the Pelicans were given the broom 4-0 by the eventual NBA champion, and now defending champion Golden State Warriors, who stole Game 3 of that opening round series. 

The Pelicans have not been in the playoffs since and as Nichols put it about A.D.’s memories of that disappointment, “That was the end of anyone caring about him or what he had done that season.” 

This time around, the only focus of Davis is keeping the Pelicans not just above the playoff line but earning a high enough seed to where they have a shot of at least advancing to the Semifinals. 

In the middle of this week, the Pelicans were at the No. 5 spot in the West Conference right on the edge of having home court advantage. While they are right now in the No. 7 Spot, they are just ½ a game from being out of the No. 3 spot. 

They New Orleans Pelicans are in this position because Anthony Davis in the wake of the loss of DeMarcus Cousins in late January has risen his level of play not just with his numbers, but with his leadership. That has put him in the MVP conversation, and while that is nice, Davis is mainly focus on getting the Pelicans not just into the playoffs this spring, but in position where they can advance. 

If Davis wins league MVP or is in the Top 5 when the award is given out at the NBA Awards Show on June 25 in Los Angeles, CA on TNT, wonderful. What will mean more for a player who is signed for three more years is to get his team into the NBA’s second season and for them to have an impact that can set them on a course for the future where they are respected as a serious title contender and Davis without any hesitation from anyone is seen and respected as a Top tier player in not just the National Basketball Association, but on planet Earth. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/no/new-orleans-pelicans; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/no/new-orleans-pelicans; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/6583/anthony-davis; and www.espn.com/nba/standings.