This is how MVP candidacies are built. Capping yet another dominant two-way performance, New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis hit the game-winning layup with 6.6 seconds remaining give his team a dramatic 100-99 road victory over the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.
That’s just too easy. Aron Baynes isn’t close to quick enough to hanging with The Brow off the bounce, especially when he gets no help from his teammates.
Davis finished with a mind-boggling line of 27 points (11-16 FGs), 11 rebounds, four steals, and six blocks. It’s the second time this season he’s gone for at least 25 points, 10 boards, and five swats in the same contest. Davis reached those thresholds three times in 2013-2014, numbers that were compiled only nine times in total by seven different players. Nobody else accomplished them more than once.
Considering highlights like these, it’s a wonder why the 21 year-old doesn’t do it on a nightly basis:
The terrifying thing for the rest of the league is that he’s coming pretty damn close. Saturday’s brilliance pushed his season-long averages to 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals, and 4.4 blocks per game. He leads the NBA in rebounding and blocks, and ranks top-seven in both scoring and steals. Davis’ 34.98 PER easily outpaces second-place Steph Curry’s, and he’s just behind the Golden State Warriors star in win shares per 48 minutes.
Oh, and the Pelicans are 3-2 heading into Monday’s must-watch game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
When preseason talk of Davis’ MVP likelihood reached its zenith, a sizable portion of league followers said his candidacy would never be taken seriously because New Orleans would be out of the playoff race. And even if the Pellies snuck into the postseason, history said The Brow’s likelihood of winning MVP was still almost nonexistent – all previous winners of the award have played on a team that gained a top-three playoff seed.
But history fails to account for crucial context: The incredible strength of the Western Conference; and the possibility that Davis would establish himself as the league’s best player.
It’s still very, very early, and takeaways from such a small sample size are often rendered irrelevant over time. But if the Pelicans can be competitive into April and Davis is still outclassing his peers, it’d be remiss for voters to let precedent prohibit them from rewarding The Brow with hardware.
And if history breaks, we’ll surely remember Davis’ performance against the champs as when it began to seem possible.
(Video via Dawk Ins)
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