Pelican Debrief’s “Pictures of Pelicans History” is a series looking at the best and worst moments in the New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets history.
During his rookie campaign, Anthony Davis turned a game he nearly missed due to illness into a game where he made his first buzzer beater against the Boston Celtics.
On March 20th 2013, Anthony Davis missed morning shootaround for a game against the Boston Celtics. It had all the looks of Davis missing the contest.
He turned that game into a fantastic finish and one of the best moments in New Orleans basketball history.
To see just how big a win this was for the Hornets, realize just how good the Boston Celtics were in 2013. The Celtics still had Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, while ending the season a playoff team, the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
New Orleans, on the other hand, were going in the opposite direction. The Hornets had just drafted Davis and were still very early in the rebuilding phase. Going into the Celtics game, New Orleans held a 22-46 record. Even with Davis’ stardom, they were one of the worst teams in the league.
Shockingly, the Hornets were going for the sweep of Boston in this game, after beating the team by over 10 points in January. The Hornets had Austin Rivers at the time, looking to get the sweep on Doc Rivers, Austin’s dad and the coach of the Celtics.
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Let’s get into the game. Boston, with two minutes left, hold a five point lead. The Hornets are able to keep the Celtics without a point and score four of their own in the next minute and 45, to cut the deficit to one. With 17 seconds left, Paul Pierce misses a jumper and Ryan Anderson grabs the rebound.
TIMEOUT!
Head Coach Monty Williams gets the young team into the huddle. Fans may be used to Monty getting a great play set up out of a timeout, due to his success in end of game moments.
This time around, he got the ball in Eric Gordon‘s hands to finish the game.
Before the “Eric Gordon’s trash” talk comes in, he was one of the best players on the team that year. Gordon had just come from Los Angeles and looked pretty good in the season, averaging 17 points per game. He was being guarded by the young Avery Bradley, who was not the defensive monster he’s seen as in the NBA today.
It made sense. Unfortunately, Gordon did not get the best play to finish. Eric held the ball and took the clock down to six seconds. He then began to post up Bradley, before he span around and threw up a contested layup.
He attempts to hit the ball off the backboard for a layup, yet aims it too high. The ball hits the front of the rim and looks like it’ll just miss for a Celtics win.
That’s where Anthony Davis comes in. As Gordon goes to the rim for the layup, Kevin Garnett, who is suppose to be boxing out AD, comes to help contest and stares at the ball as it rims out.
With no man on him, Davis takes advantage. As the ball bounces off the rim with one second on the clock, Davis goes right at it and tips the ball back into the hoop. It goes in!
The Hornets took a one-point lead to the final 0.3 seconds of the game. Boston did fail to get a shot up in time and New Orleans would celebrate at home with a victory.
This win meant quite a bit to the psyche of Anthony Davis. For the young rookie, coming in and winning the game can certainly give him confidence. For the team, it gives them the hope they’re going in the right direction, especially beating a playoff team. In every phase, this win meant so much for the team and the fans.
This had been a team of frustration since the trade of Chris Paul. Not much hope for the hometown faithful. Davis’ athletic feat to win this game gave New Orleans hope.
Next: Pictures of Pelicans History: Chris Paul Breaks Steals Record
This moment is one that is forgotten due to Anthony Davis’ leaps and bounds, but even in his rookie year, he was making highlight plays. His buzzer beater was the first of many heroic accomplishments for New Orleans basketball. It’s easy to find fun moments of Davis and the Pelicans recently, but one of the best moments in the franchise was his rookie season game winner that gave fans something to get excited about for the first time in a while.