That was all, folks, but this is now. Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers are in New Orleans as The Brow will play his first game against against the Pelicans after orchestrating his exit from the Big Easy just over 10 months ago.
While a majority of the coverage surrounding this game is concerning itself with the reception Davis will get, or whether he will get a tribute video, Davis is in an uncommon position as a returning player by also being on the same team as LeBron James. Nothing will ever be worse than LeBron’s 2010 return to Cleveland and no matter how things went, Davis is surrounded by veterans who know what’s like to be disliked.
Having LeBron on Davis’ side tonight could be the ultimate weapon while also being another validation that he made the right call leaving New Orleans. Davis has admitted that he will be a little nervous heading into this game and why wouldn’t he? After seven years of his formative years, it would be impossible for him not to have them, a reality LeBron knows well.
But as for the practical, Davis, James and the Lakers can fall back on their defense that has led them to an NBA-best 15-2 start. After having a couple of games of slippage early on in their road trip, the Lakers closing out their trip by shutting the life out of the Pelicans offense would be the kind of thing to normalize a weird game Davis and also extend their NBA-best win-streak to nine games.
