Change doing Anthony Davis, Pelicans good

NEW ORLEANS -- Even after scoring 45 points for the second time in under a month, the simpler times of Anthony Davis' rookie season don’t feel too far away. Back then, when his trademark brow made up the largest percentage of hair on his face, a big night meant finishing above his modest 13.5 scoring average.
“My rookie year, I was like, ‘I just want to get 20,’” he said.
My, how things have changed.
Davis said a Pelicans personnel member told him Wednesday, “’If I don’t get 30 I play bad.” His response to such a claim, he said, is always the same:
“Did we get the win, though? If we get the win then I’m good.”
That wasn’t the case at the start of the season. Davis dropped 50 in the opener, and the Pelicans lost. He had 45 the next night out, and the Pelicans lost. There were nights of 35, 33 and 34, too, as New Orleans lost its first eight games and found itself on the brink of once again becoming a permanent resident of the Western Conference’s basement.

Anthony Davis got chants of "M-V-P!" from the home crowd as his 45-point effort helped the Pelicans to a fourth consecutive victory. Matt Bush/USA TODAY Sports

That’s changed, too. One night after pouring it on Atlanta’s top-ranked defense, the Pelicans blew out the Minnesota Timberwolves -- the team that was supposed to usurp their place as the NBA's en vogue upstart -- 117-96 at the Big Blender. The victory brings them to 4-0 since the return of Jrue Holiday and marks their first four-game winning streak since Alvin Gentry took over in the summer of 2015.
“Any time you win or any time you have a winning streak, you’re kind of in a groove and you’re feeling good as a team,” Holiday said. “It always feels great. Obviously with where we are in the standings, in the Western Conference, it feels good just to be included back in it.”
As big as Holiday’s impact has been -- on the ball movement (27 assists Wednesday), on an already-solid defense (the Wolves shot 38.4 percent from the floor), on their third-to-last-ranked 3-point shooting (0-for-2 for Holiday but 38 percent as a team) -- the turnaround doesn’t happen without Davis’ climb to another stratosphere this season.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

Check out the team site for more game coverage

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Check out the team site for more game coverage

Davis, who opened the night third in the NBA in scoring and first in blocked shots, finished with 45 points (17-for-27), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and long list of benchmarks reached, including his third game this season -- and 10th in his career -- of 40 points and 10 rebounds.
The rest of the league? Just one.
“I’m amazed every time by the shots he’s able to do it [through] double-teams and triple-teams,” Frazier said. “It’s an MVP performance.”
That’s certainty how the crowd felt, as those in attendance serenaded Davis with “M-V-P” chants more than once.

“The first couple times you block it out, but then it gets louder and louder, so you kind of hear it,” Davis said. “In the past, every time I hear it I kind of like get happy or something and I miss the free throw. So now you hear it and I just try to concentrate on making the free throw.”
When the Pelicans defeated the Sacramento Kings on April 3, 2015, marking the last time they won a fourth straight game, Eric Gordon was the high scorer, with 21 points. Davis finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Holiday, though sidelined at the time, is one of the remaining healthy core pieces left on the Pelicans who could speak to Davis’ growth.
But as Holiday wryly pointed out after the game, you don’t need to have much of an expertise in Davis’ personal history to realize the obvious: He’s playing better than ever before.
“Everybody could say that,” Holiday said. “My man can score on 10 people.”