Anthony Davis didn’t even realize late Thursday night that the starters for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game had been announced, a list that does not include the 22-year-old’s name this time. Roughly an hour after TNT unveiled the 10 players who’ll be on the floor at tip-off Feb. 14 in Toronto, Davis again went to work on showing why he deserves consideration to be an All-Star reserve. Partly as a result, New Orleans (15-27) is steadily building optimism and confidence that it can become a legitimate factor in the Western Conference playoff race.
Davis poured in 35 points in a 115-99 victory over Detroit, a virtual carbon copy of the 32-point outing he had Tuesday in a 114-99 win against Minnesota. In another resemblance between the pair of home wins, he shot 13 of 22 from the field vs. the Timberwolves, then went 13 of 23 in the Pistons game. More importantly to the two-time All-Star than those numbers, the Pelicans (15-27) have won four of their last five games, for the first time in 2015-16. They are four games behind eighth-place Sacramento (19-23) in the West standings.
“I don’t care about that,” Davis told reporters of the All-Star vote, which placed him just ninth among West frontcourt players. “I only care about what’s in this locker room. (All-Star) is just a bonus. Guys don’t come into this league (saying), ‘I want to be a 10-time All-Star.’ They worry about rings and helping their teams win. That doesn’t bother me at all.”
After a disastrous 1-11 start to the regular season, New Orleans has essentially gone .500, good enough to remain within striking distance of the West’s top eight. The Pelicans have been in virtually every game they’ve played for the past month, losing by a double-digit margin only once since Dec. 20 (a 15-point loss Dec. 28 at Orlando).
“I think we’ve played good basketball the last 10, 15 games,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said after Thursday’s win. “We’re at the point now in the season where we have to approach every game like it’s a playoff game.”
With his team trying to bring that urgency to the floor, Davis has elevated his performance over the recent five-game stretch, averaging 26.8 points on 51.1 percent shooting from the field. Even his foul shooting has been on the rise lately, at 85.4 percent during the team’s 4-1 span.
“I’m just coming out being aggressive,” Davis said. “Trying to get the team to fight back and just play hard. They’re doing a great job of finding me. I’m not hesitating anymore. I’m just playing basketball, having fun with it. My teammates see it and they’re playing hard. We’re all just playing hard, having fun playing together.
“The ball is moving. Everybody’s getting rhythm shots, where the ball’s moving and we’re making extra passes, turning down a good shot for a great shot. Nobody’s jacking up bad shots because they’re not touching the ball. It’s starting to show on the floor.”
“AD is really playing at an MVP-type level and when he does, he opens up the game for everybody,” Gentry said.
In the midst of a stretch that has been deemed “make-or-break” by Gentry, New Orleans still has five games remaining on its season-long seven-game homestand, hosting Milwaukee, Houston, Sacramento, Brooklyn and Memphis. Pelicans players have repeatedly acknowledged that the next 10 days could dictate their fate this spring.
“We’re desperate – we want to get to the playoffs,” said guard Tyreke Evans, who averaged 17.5 points and 7.5 assists vs. Minnesota and Detroit. “That feeling last year (of making it) was a good feeling. We don’t want to lose that taste. We’re definitely being aggressive and know these games matter. We’re taking advantage of it.”
“We’ve got a lot of basketball left and we’re still in the race,” Davis said. “We’re (four) games behind eighth. That’s not a lot of games. We have five more home games where we can close that gap. We took care of the first two, but we’ve still got to do the same for the next five, against some good teams coming in.
“We’re just playing desperate. We’re playing a lot of harder, with a lot of energy. Like Coach said, in a couple weeks we’ll see where our season goes. Is it just going to be playing it out, or are we going to be in the race and every game matters?”
