Anthony Davis had his body and mind challenged by the Oklahoma City Thunder last night

In a 101-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night, far too much was laid on the line for Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Okay, so: We all knew the triple-double was inevitable. Russell Westbrook had four of them in a row heading into last night’s matchup with Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans. He’s an insane athlete, one of the most driven guys in the league, a competitive headcase driven solely by victory. Sure enough, it came; 28 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists in 38 minutes. And it was matched with a victory, which matters more.

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Anthony Davis, on the other hand, played 43 minutes in a nine-point loss on the first night of a back-to-back. This is the guy, in case you’d forgotten, still hoping to reach the 80-game summit for the first time in his career. NBA teams like to do this. They play their stars when they get the privilege of finding another team who has their own brightly-shining competitor. Maybe defend a little better, Pelicans, instead of letting 43-38 be the defining difference of the game.

Not defining in the way it impacts the standings, or even public perception of the team. The league and its fans still see New Orleans as a wasteland for the prime of a top-ten player, save for maybe a week where Jrue Holiday got some love. Westbrook’s Thunder came into the game at 12-8, clearly better than the Pelicans’ 7-13 mark. They were playing at home. Probably “supposed” to win this one. So not a surprise that they did, and not a surprise that Westbrook was deeply involved in the outcome.

The surprise was this: Those 43 minutes in the context of this particular season, and the way the post-game reaction played out. First, Enes Kanter spewing controversy to the media scrum after having himself a nice little game (17 points, 10 rebounds, a couple blocks):

"“He can’t beat us just by himself,” Thunder big man Enes Kanter said of Davis. “That’s what a really special player does. Look at Russell, getting his stats, but making everybody else better.“With them, he’s done a good job. I don’t want to say nothing bad about him. He’s a good player. That’s it.”"

Feeling confident after his best game of the season, Kanter thought it necessary to take shots at a guy who had just logged what feels like his 1,000th game of the year with 35 points and 15 rebounds. I guess because his superstar buddy had played up to his season-long levels and nailed a three in the fourth quarter to clinch the game? Sure, Enes.

This is a simple reading of the situation, no doubt. The Thunder shouldn’t have any problem dispatching an objectively worse basketball team, even if that basketball team’s main source of production comes from a single player. The Pelicans have performed about as well as the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets this year, teams more balanced and versatile than them, without a dominant star leading the way by himself.

Does that mean the Nuggets should be getting more out of Kenneth Faried? That a developing All-Star-caliber big man like Nikola Jokic should be doing more to be considered “special”? (Related: if you’re definition of being special is earning a favorable comparison to Russell Westbrook by Enes Kanter, yikes.) This is a guy who had a nice game against the worst crop of centers in the league at home against a Pelicans team inferior to his own, and handled his business by personally attacking the “specialness” of that opponent’s superstar.

Back to the aftermath of the game itself. More important but lost in the uproar over the ineloquent wordplay of the Turkish big man was word that Davis’s limp throughout the game may be an actual problem. Per a report from ESPN’s Justin Verrier and Royce Young, Davis was seen receiving treatment from the team, and with a black wrap around his foot. He would later deny the account, and is listed as Probable for tonight’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

But: the number one concern over the future of Anthony Davis’s career is injuries. Met with nearly universal praise and agreement on the special (see what I did there?) potential he has, the Pelicans have consistently put him in bad situations. Overplaying him in odd situations (last week’s Lakers game being a great example), forcing him to play down low before he was physically ready to do that consistently, employing a training staff with a checkered past.

Most of that is a discussion for another time, but it’s worth mentioning in the context of the ability of the staff to properly analyze his value relative to that of others’. Maybe have some of the lineup creativity include giving Davis a breather whenever possible, a la Dirk Nowitzki and others. Maybe let crunch time come without whispering “Do it all, Anthony.” into his ear in the huddle.

Next: Previewing tonight's matchup against the Grizzlies

To have his winning ability challenged and his foot injured in one night qualifies as one of the worst nights of the season for Anthony Davis. It could have been a regular night. The Pelicans could have challenged an above-average team, the league could have watched two stars do battle, and the team could have had an advantage over a battered Grizzlies team the next night.

Now, Davis will have to continue his Do Everything ways while overcoming pain in both his ego and body. These are the nights we remember when things go awry. It could have just been an ordinary loss.

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