New Orleans Pelicans: Top Individual Playoff Performances #13
#13-Baron Davis: 2002-3 Game 4 vs. Sixers
This will be the last of the Baron Davis entries in the top-15. Davis had the frustrating habit of having big games in the playoffs and then completely disappearing.
New Orleans only scored 87 points in this ugly loss and Davis had nearly half of them, putting up 34 points and adding seven assists, two steals and committing only one turnover.
Considering the next highest scorer was David Wesley with 12 points, it’s not hard to see how New Orleans dropped this one.
Davis played a whopping 43 minutes and pretty much carried the offense while he was on the floor. New Orleans’ bench was terrible, with guys like Robert Traylor, Stacey Augmon and Kenny Anderson playing fruitless minutes.
If you are old enough to remember those three, then you know their careers did not live up to the huge hype they had coming out of college, though Anderson had his moments.
Davis and the Hornets would make the playoffs again the next year, losing to the Heat in seven games, but there weren’t many notable performances by anyone on New Orleans.
That would mark the end of the Baron Davis era, which culminated in two first round playoff defeats and that’s it. Davis is very emblematic of the New Orleans franchise, as he had tantalizing talent but could never put it together consistently.