WASHINGTON, D.C. – It speaks volumes about Anthony Davis’ seemingly limitless upside and ability that in the hours after word spread Sunday that he’d racked up an NBA season-high 59 points at Detroit, many people who know Davis well weren’t a bit surprised. Phone calls and texts poured in to the 22-year-old’s phone as he and his New Orleans teammates traveled from Michigan to our nation’s capital, but some of the messages jokingly expressed mild disappointment.
“A few people said, ‘It’s not 60!’ ” Davis noted Monday after Pelicans practice. “But everyone was calling and texting their congratulations.”
As the three-time All-Star forward conducted a postgame TV interview moments after the buzzer of his 59-point eruption, multi-year teammates Ryan Anderson and Jrue Holiday snuck up from behind and doused Davis with water. Other than that impromptu celebration, however, the Pelicans didn’t do anything extraordinary to commemorate the achievement, partly because they saw something like it coming.
“There are not a lot of guys I’ve played with who can just score at will every night,” Anderson said of Davis, who’s now averaging 24.3 points in 2015-16. “While it was happening, it was a day I had envisioned for him many times, having played with him. I think if it was anybody else, we would’ve made an even bigger deal of it. But the fact that it’s Anthony, when you’re a certain caliber of player like he is, it was almost anticipated that there would be a night like that. I think that in itself speaks even more highly of him, rather than giving him some kind of big celebration.”
“It’s AD,” forward Dante Cunningham said. “It’s hard to just be super, super shocked. An ordinary guy who averages 10 or 12 points and gets 60, we’d go crazy. But we see it every day. But obviously we’re happy for him.”
As Davis spoke to reporters after the most productive offensive day for him at any level, the game ball sat on the floor nearby in the visiting locker at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He also was given a copy of the stat sheet as a keepsake. He said Monday afternoon that he hasn’t had a chance yet to watch video of the performance, only seeing a few clips. He singled out a second-half fadeaway shot over Detroit All-Star center Andre Drummond as perhaps the most memorable basket he scored, while shooting 24-for-34 from the field.
“I think it was one of my heat-check shots,” Davis said. “I took a dribble and did a stepback over Andre Drummond. It was great defense. That’s when I kind of knew that anything I shot, there was a high-percentage chance it was going to go in.
“One of the (New Orleans assistant) coaches came up to me today (to show video of the play) and said, ‘This is how I knew you were going to have a good night.’ That move was something I’ll probably never do again, but I made it.”
On three prior occasions in his four-year NBA career, Davis had tallied exactly 43 points, most recently doing so Nov. 6 vs. Atlanta. What separated Sunday’s performance was that even after a prolific start, Davis continued to drain shots from all over the court. After a 26-point first half, he added 14 in the third quarter and 19 more in the fourth. His 33-point second half tied a franchise record – which perhaps not surprisingly, he set himself in the Nov. 6 Atlanta game.
“Even in the first half when he was going off, that was still sort of his normal almost,” Anderson said of Davis. “In the third quarter, when he continued kind of pouring it on, I knew he was going to have a ridiculous night.”
“When we looked up at halftime and he had 26 points, it seemed so easy for him,” Cunningham said. “Not that he was floating through the game, but he was just being AD and doing what he does on the court. If anybody else did that, we would’ve gone crazy, but he does that every day. That was pretty much the feeling we had on the night.”
