Should Lakers fans worry about Anthony Davis’ playoff inexperience?
By Jason Reed
2. Anthony Davis has been money in the playoffs
Sure, Anthony Davis does not have a lot of playoff experience under his belt and he has never made it out of the second round. That does not discount his performance during the playoffs, though, as when Davis has made the playoffs he has been absolute money.
Davis was the top guy of those Pelicans teams so the blame naturally goes to him, and rightfully so. But if we are being honest with ourselves, nobody expected those Pelican teams, especially after DeMarcus Cousins got hurt, to make that much noise in the playoffs.
Heck, the Pelicans even shocked everyone when they bested the Portland Trail Blazers. That was already more than people expected and the reason they did so was because of Anthony Davis.
Let’s take a second and look at Davis’ career playoff line: 30.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.8 steals, 52.6 field goal percentage. In his last playoff berth, he averaged 30.1 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. Only two other players in NBA history have averaged those numbers in a playoff year with at least five games played: Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone.
Keep in mind that Davis was 21 and 24 when he made the playoffs. He is now 27, is scratching the surface of his prime and has already proven that he can be elite when it matters most.
And to circle back to that Portland series — Davis scored 47 points with 10 rebounds, three blocks and a 65.2 field goal percentage to complete the sweep in Game 4. Yeah, he’s good.