SmashMouth

Anthony Davis executed a clean sweep on Saturday, shaking off a reputational knock that has followed him for years, rewriting the Pelicans’ playoff record books and dumping the Blazers in emphatic fashion.

New Orleans defeated Portland 131-123 in Game 4 at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday, eliminating the West’s three seed and setting up a likely second-round date with Golden State.

Considering the stakes, Davis turned in the game of his life, scoring 47 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking three shots to lead the Pelicans to their first playoff series victory since 2008. Portland had no answer for the Pelicans’ do-everything All-Star: Davis threw down lob dunks, drew foul after foul and hit two threes as he set a franchise record for points in a playoff game. His 47 points also marked the most scored by any player in the 2018 playoffs, eclipsing LeBron James’s 46.

“This has probably been the best game [Davis] has played since I’ve been here,” said Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry. “He just wasn’t going to let us lose tonight.”

This wasn’t just a scoring explosion, it was a career breakthrough. At 25, Davis has spent multiple years as the “Best player in the NBA to never win a playoff series.” Prior to this year, he had made the playoffs just once in five tries, and he had failed to win a single game in his only postseason appearance thanks to a sweep by the Warriors in 2015.

This year, it was Davis’s turn to send an opponent home early. The Blazers never came close to finding an effective strategy to stop him: Davis was simply too long, too quick, too versatile and too relentless. He averaged 30 PPG, 12 RPG and 2.8 BPG for the series, shooting 47 FG% and posting a +43 in 155 minutes. Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo set the table for him and he took care of the rest.

“I’m trying to build a legacy here in New Orleans and let people know we’re for real,” Davis said.

read more on SI