Anthony Davis showed out once again when facing his former team New Orleans Pelicans team by scoring 46 points on Friday night, pushing the Los Angeles Lakers to a 123-113 win. Davis was a dominant scorer for much of the night but LeBron James was the conductor of things offensively with 17 points and 15 assists on the night. The Lakers also got a very necessary scoring punch from Danny Green, who had 25 points (6-10 3PT) in one of his highest-scoring games of the season.
The Pelicans looked dead in the water a couple of times but the former Lakers duo of Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball kept them in it. Ball had 23 points while Ingram had 22 but as mentioned above, the night belonged to Davis.
Friday night was Davis’ fourth 40-point scoring effort of the season and his second against the Pelicans this season. In addition to the dunks that he normally gets, he also made three of his five 3-point attempts, a rare accomplishment for Davis in a season where he is shooting below 30 percent from the 3-point line. But he did have an amazing dunk for good measure. He also had 40 of his 46 before the third quarter.
After the win, the Lakers move to 28-7 and will wait to play again until Sunday when they host a banged-up Detroit Pistons squad that is currently the subject of trade rumors involving starting center Andre Drummond.
As a note of house-keeping, James caught a knee from Josh Hart in his left calf during the final minutes of the game. James stayed in for the rest of the game but it’s something to keep an eye on, especially with the other nagging injuries he’s dealing with this season.
