NBA PM: Davis Playing Well While Adjusting to Playoffs

Davis Playing Well While Adjusting to Playoffs

Years from now, Anthony Davis’ legacy will surely be ruined when NBA Commissioner Aubrey Graham announces that Davis is from a different planet, where lifeforms have jaw-dropping athleticism, insane wingspans and thick unibrows. In the meantime, the New Orleans Pelicans are taking advantage of the fact that their star player is an alien by playing him a ton of minutes and putting the ball in his hands.

Making his postseason debut at 22 years old, Davis is averaging 30.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 1.5 steals through his first playoff games. He played 40 minutes in Game 1 and 45 minutes in Game 2, because the Pelicans know that they can’t afford to take him off of the court.

In that second game, Davis had 26 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals, and teammates talked about he had an “off game” (mainly because he was 9-22 from the field). That’s how good Davis has been. What would be a great day for many players is an off game.

That’s because we’ve seen Davis look absolutely dominant on the court throughout this season and post stats that make you do a double take. In early April, Davis had a six-game stretch where he averaged 30.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 5.0 blocks and 3.8 assists. Early in the year, he was near the top of the NBA leaderboard in almost every statistical category. He can singlehandedly win a game for his team, and everyone watching realizes just how special and unique his skill set is.

However, Pelicans head coach Monty Williams knows none of that matters if he can’t do the same thing in the playoffs. He’s made it clear to Davis that this is when the NBA’s elite players step up.

“Every talk I’ve had with him from a basketball standpoint is about this,” Coach Williams said of Davis. “He’s a great player, but in order to be the best that he can be, it’s these moments where you’ve got to get used to it. And he embraces all of it; he wants to learn and experience all of it. I think he’s settled in to what it’s going to be like.”

Davis may soon be the best player in the league, and he’s having his coming out party in a very entertaining series against arguably the best team in the league. The Golden State Warriors were expected to destroy the inexperienced Pelicans in the first round, but the first two games were much closer than expected and New Orleans has some optimism as the series shifts to their city.

“When you’re on the road and we’re playing against a team like this and, first game lose by 7, [second game] lose by 10 on the road in an environment like this, of course we’re going to feel good about ourselves going home, knowing that we play well at home,” Davis said. “We’ve got a great record at home.  Imagine what we can do [at home] with what we’ve done. If we bring that same defensive energy going home, then it makes it a lot easier on us. When you’re making shots and they’re making shots, their crowd gets into it, so it gets very loud and it’s hard for us to hear our teammates on defense. But everything that we’re going through here, they’re going to go through in New Orleans. The crowd will be on our side, so they’re going to be in the same predicament.  We just have to capitalize.

“I don’t think anybody had the jitters that we had in Game 1; there were probably still some there, but it didn’t show coming out the gate. We’re going back home. We’re on our home floor. Our crowd is going to be just like this crowd, if not better – not that can you top this because it’s pretty hectic in here. But we’re going to need them. Hopefully we can come out with some wins at home and try to make this a series.”

Despite posting impressive stats, Davis admits that the playoffs are very different and he’s still adjusting to it. Playing the same team over and over is tough, because adjustments are made and players are removed from their comfort zones. Golden State, specifically Draymond Green, has done a very good job on Davis and now it’s on him and Coach Williams to respond with adjustments of their own.

“It’s way different,” Davis said. “The physicality is different. The pace is different. The calls are different. I mean, it’s tough. It’s all new to me.

“They’re a tough team. They’re going to make adjustments, we’re going to make adjustments, and at the end of the day, it’s all about heart and who wants it more.  We’re going to fight to the end…  We’ve just got to continue to fight and make adjustments.”

The fact that he’s rarely leaving the floor during games has turned heads, with some wondering if Coach Williams should give him some more rest. However, Davis is constantly fighting to stay in games and the Pelicans know how important he is to the team. They can’t take him off of the floor, and Davis is fine with that.

“It’s the playoffs,” Davis said. “I’m trying to win, and I want to do whatever it takes to win, whether it’s playing 48 minutes or 42. Whatever.  I want to be on the floor and do as much as possible in the time that I’m allowed to play.  If that allows me to be on the floor for 48 minutes, by all means I’m going to do it. I just want to win.  When Coach takes me off the court, I tell him, ‘I’m good.’  I mean, every player does it. It’s just me being hungry and just loving the game and having passion for it.”

“Last time I checked, this is the playoffs – we’ve got the rest of the summer to rest,” Williams said. “We’re trying to win games. He’s our best player, and if I need to play him 48 minutes, I’ll play him 48 minutes.  Managing minutes is based on wins. Tyreke [Evans] is different, he’s coming off a bit of an injury.  AD, he can play minutes.  He’s the one that fights me all the time about coming out of the game.
Now there are times where I may be able to get him out for a couple of minutes and get him back in, but [Game 2] wasn’t one of those nights.”

Despite the fact that he’s so important to his team’s success and has been labeled as the NBA’s newest superstar at such a young age, Davis insists that he doesn’t feel any added pressure from those expectations.

“Expectations from who? From you guys? That’s on you all, (the media) I just go out there and play,” Davis said. “I expect to win a game.  That’s it.  No matter what I do individually, I expect to win a game. I was nervous the first game, I think the whole team was.  This [was] our first time together as a unit in a playoff game, [which is tough] especially in an environment like this. But during the course of the game, we kind of slowed down and realized it’s just another basketball game. We have to go out there and execute, and do what we’ve been doing all year to get to this point.”

Williams is confident that Davis can put the Pelicans on his back. When asked after Game 2 if he was concerned that Davis was missing so many shots and not giving up the ball, Williams insisted that he wants the ball in Davis’ hands as much as possible.

“He’s done it before; he’s carried us all year long,” Williams said. “I’m not going to second‑guess what he’s doing. There are opportunities to pass out, but he makes so many of those shots, and nobody says a word.”

Williams was asked about how ridiculous it is that Davis is having this kind of success at 22 years old, but he admits he doesn’t even think about that. He has come to expect these performances from Davis, and he’s just focused on continuing to develop his young star.

“I don’t have time for that, I really don’t,” Williams said. “I don’t mean to be curt, but I’m telling you my responsibility as a coach is to push him and get him to be the best he can be.  To a degree, I may push him too much because I’m not looking at his age.  I see the gift, and when you have that, it’s your responsibility to get the most out of it.  I try to do that with all of our guys.  That’s why they don’t like me that much during the season.  I don’t have time to look at their age.  I’m aware of giving them too much responsibility at times from a leadership standpoint, but as far as developing him as a player, I’ve got to push and coach every day. That’s my job, and I don’t duck that responsibility.”

Davis has played well in his first two playoff games, and the Pelicans will need him to continue having super-human performances if they want to win some games in this series against Golden State. This is Davis’ postseason debut, but if all goes as planned, this will be the first of many times that the big man impresses on the NBA’s biggest stage.

Leonard Wins Defensive Player of the Year

The San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard is the recipient of the 2014-15 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the league announced today. He becomes the first Spurs player to win the award since David Robinson in 1991-92.

Leonard garnered 37 first-place votes and 333 total points from a panel of 129 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. He edged the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green, who tallied 45 first-place votes and 317 points. The Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan finished third with 261 points (32 first-place votes). Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

The 6’7 Leonard averaged career highs of 2.31 steals (becoming only the sixth forward to lead the NBA in steals per game since the league started tracking the statistic 42 years ago) and 5.9 defensive rebounds to help anchor a Spurs defense that held opponents under 100 points per game (97.0) for the 20^th consecutive season.

According to NBA.com/Stats, San Antonio ranked third in the NBA in defensive rating, allowing 99.6 points per 100 possessions. The Spurs gave up only 97.1 points per 100 possessions when Leonard was on the court, a defensive rating that would have led the league over the entire season. When Leonard was off the court, though, San Antonio permitted 102.2 points per 100 possessions, a league-average defensive rating.

To view the complete breakdown of votes for this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award, click here.