We’re looking back at the most important New Orleans Pelicans games of the season so far. Today we’ll examine the return of The Brow to the Big Easy.
How do you welcome a former face of the franchise back into your city? For some, the red carpet is rolled out and fans greet them with warmth and thanks. For others, the boos rain down every time they are involved in a play on the court. Anthony Davis got the latter treatment from fans of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Fans across the league usually shower the returning player in boos during player introductions and the first few times they touch the ball. Those fans may understand why players choose to leave in free agency; the team hasn’t done any serious winning while the player was there, another team offered more money, etc…
It’s different when a player demands a trade. When Anthony Davis held the team hostage by demanding a trade just nine days before the 2019 trade deadline, things got tricky. There had been rumors the AD’s agent Rich Paul was angling for a trade all season, now it was public.
A deal very similar to the one eventually agreed upon by New Orleans and Los Angeles had been discussed in the days before the deadline but could not be agreed upon. Then Anthony Davis sprained his finger a few days later and the threat of him playing his last game with New Orleans began to feel all too real.
He would come back to play in 15 more games with the New Orleans Pelicans but he only played about 20 minutes in those games and missed another 12 games while typically not even dressing. To add insult to not playing he wore the infamous “that’s all folks” shirt to the Pelicans last game of the season.
At this point Pelicans’ fans were fed up with Davis and were ready for the team to move on from the superstar. Just days after free agency opened the Pelicans and Lakers officially agreed to a trade (which had in effect been completed about two weeks earlier) that sent AD to LA and brought Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, and picks back to Nola.
Fans circled November 27, 2019, the first time the Lakers were set to play in New Orleans, on their calendars, and waited eagerly to see how the teams’ new first overall pick, Zion Williamson, would match up with LeBron James and AD. Sadly Zion got hurt during summer league and was not able to play in this game.
A hard-fought game which New Orleans led from halfway through the first till halfway through the fourth, the Pelicans led by as many as 16 points late in the third quarter and looked like they were going to run away with a win behind very strong three-point and free-throw shooting.
The Lakers were very committed to AD having a strong game this night, forcing him the ball early and often. Davis had five of his team’s first seven shots, leading to Davis having a team-high 11 shots in the first quarter. Alas for Los Angeles, the Pelicans started hotter than a pistol.
New Orleans started the game 6/13, making only threes and racing out to a 13 point lead after the first quarter. The team didn’t make a two-pointer until there was 4:18 left in the first quarter. This barrage of threes kept coming and the Pelicans would finish with 17 made three-pointers, at the time that was the most the Lakers had allowed in a game this season.
Los Angeles didn’t let the lead stretch much further than the 16 point deficit they faced after the first quarter and stayed composed throughout the game. Even though both LeBron and AD would miss time after getting banged up, the Lakers were able to hold on until the fourth quarter when they really pushed the pedal down.
The last five minutes featured tons of action, with the Lakers tying the game exactly halfway through the fourth quarter. It stayed close and the highlights were aplenty.
What was at stake?
Being that this game took place about 1/4 of the way through what would have been a normal season, there wasn’t a ton that either team could gain with a win here. Los Angeles was two games ahead of second-place Denver and New Orleans was two games behind eighth-place Phoenix.
At this point in the season, most teams are still adjusting to new additions to the roster and finding the right ways to maximize a player’s abilities within the team. New Orleans was without Lonzo Ball and Derrick Favors, two key players on the roster, this called for the rest of the roster to step up big time to fill in for the production they didn’t have.