Despite a mind-boggling statline from Anthony Davis, the New Orleans Pelicans fell 118-111 in double overtime Sunday night to the visiting Denver Nuggets.
Davis flirted with a quadruple-double (a feat only accomplished four times in NBA history), finishing with 36 points, 14 rebounds, nine blocks and a career-high seven assists.
The Nuggets overcame Davis’ monster performance for the big W.
Per the Times-Picayune:
“We had it under control,” Davis said. “It’s a tough loss.” […] One that, coupled with Oklahoma City’s 109-100 win over the Chicago Bulls earlier on Sunday moved the Thunder back into sole possession of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference with 16 games remaining, one game ahead of New Orleans.
“That’s a really good team,” said Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt, who now counts wins over the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors, each leading their respective conferences) and now New Orleans on his resume as he seeks to prove his worth as something other an an interim coach. “They’ve got probably the best player in the league that’s coming up, that’s on the uptick. […] Anthony Davis, I wanted to call out to see if there were three of them out there tonight. He’d be up top and I’d try to get him in the corner. Next thing I know, he was on the baseline. He’s an incredible player.”
“They hit some tough shots in regulation and in that overtime,” Davis said. “And in that second overtime, our shots weren’t falling. A lot of the shots went in and out; shots that we’d normally make. But they didn’t go in. […] It’s tough when you play that hard, play that well, and come up short. We had 19 turnovers and that kind of fuels a team like that that wants to get in transition and run. That kind of hurt us. We had some miscommunication toward the end and throughout the game. It came back and hurt us at the end.”
