New Orleans’ Anthony Davis claimed one of the greatest individual honors of his NBA career Sunday evening by earning the 2017 All-Star Game’s MVP award, but the effort for him to do so was clearly a team effort. En route to Davis setting the midseason classic’s all-time scoring record by pouring 52 points, the 23-year-old listened as Western Conference teammate Kawhi Leonard counted down how many points Davis needed to reach 50.
“Kawhi was saying, ‘Six more points,’ ” Davis noted, after the West’s 192-182 victory in the Smoothie King Center, home of Davis and the Pelicans.
Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter, West guard Russell Westbrook (41 points) asked Steve Kerr if Westbrook could sit out the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, paving the way for Davis to be named MVP. Houston’s James Harden was adamantly telling Davis that Harden would focus on dishing the ball to Davis, in order for him to keep racking up numbers. Kerr had initially set a plan in place Saturday prior to the West’s only team practice, explaining to Davis that he would try to help the fifth-year pro win MVP in his home NBA city of New Orleans.
With cooperation from across his West roster, Kerr’s plan worked to perfection, as Davis shot 26/39 from the field, feasting on a stream of alley oops and other dunks. Asked in his postgame press conference about the West’s intentions to generate a Davis MVP night, Kerr credited the perspective of his players.
“It shows the guys recognize what the weekend is about,” Golden State’s sideline boss said. “Anthony was kind of the unofficial host of the weekend. This is his team, his town here in this building. I thought it was perfectly natural for the guys to go out of their way to get him the ball.”
Moments after Kerr left the postgame podium, Davis didn’t hesitate when discussing the significance of being able to raise the prestigious MVP trophy in front of New Orleans fans, as thousands of them cheered.
“It was amazing,” the four-time All-Star selection said of becoming MVP. “That’s what I wanted to do. I stressed more than enough to the guys in the (West) locker room before the game that I wanted to get the MVP for this crowd, for this city, and I ended up doing it. The guys did a great job of just finding me, getting me the basketball. They wanted me to score 50. They did a great job of allowing me to do this, and I want to thank all of them. This one definitely means a lot to me.”
At halftime, Davis was already on pace to break the previous All-Star scoring record, dropping in 22 points (Wilt Chamberlain had owned the mark at 42). The West’s focus on MVP honors for Davis only ramped up from there; Davis pointed out that Golden State’s Draymond Green was filling the role of scorekeeper and points-updater.
“Actually, the guy who really was trying to break it down for me was Draymond,” Davis said. “He said, ‘All right, we got to get to at least 24 by halftime,’ and then we came out, and he said, ‘We’ve got to get at least 30 before you come out of the third (quarter).’
“So we were just kind of breaking it down. Then, of course, all the other guys were adding on to it and trying to get me the ball. Me and Coach Kerr had a conversation before that – we both wanted me to get MVP for the city and do it in front of the home crowd, which was a lot of fun.”
Davis kept piling up points and ended up 26/35 from two-point range, missing four three-point attempts. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, notching his first All-Star double-double over three games played.
At just 23, the former No. 1 overall draft pick in ’12 has built an extensive basketball resume that includes two Olympic gold medals, a FIBA World Cup title, an NCAA crown in his lone season at Kentucky, a first-team All-NBA selection and various other awards. Still, Davis was ready to rank Sunday’s achievement near the top of what he’s accomplished so far in the game.
“Pretty high,” Davis said of where All-Star MVP status places in his career. “I’d say below the gold medals and then the national championship, but this is definitely a prize, an award that I’m going to cherish forever.”