Pelicans Beat Spurs, Anthony Davis Dominates

Friday night in New Orleans, Anthony Davis and the Pelicans played like the team many expected to see this season, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in exciting fashion, 104-90.

Davis returned from a shoulder injury he suffered in the first quarter of Tuesday's loss to Denver, showing no ill effects, dunking alley-oops, hitting jumpers, and making highlight defensive plays.

The play of the game arguably occurred in the 4th quarter with New Orleans up 6. Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge attempted a jump shot over Davis who blocked it. As the ball begin to bounce out of bounds, Aldridge used his body as a shield...or so he thought. Davis swooped him behind him, knocking the ball of Aldridge's body as Davis flew into several court side seats. As the referees signaled Pelicans ball, Davis let out a scream as the home fans in the Smoothie King Center joined him.

"It's just a winning play, trying to get the crowd fired up," said Davis of the hustle play. "Plays like that get us fired up and get us going."

Davis finished with 20 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.

"We finally played for the full 48 minutes," said Davis. "We did a great job defensively as a team."

Ryan Anderson hit 6 three pointers, scoring a game-high 30 points, pulling down 7 boards for good measure.

"Ryan Anderson played huge for us," Davis said of his teammate. "That's what we need from Ryan. He's doing it on both ends."

The Pelicans held the Spurs to 16 points in the 4th quarter, showing good rotation and help defense throughout the night.

“It’s our best game, by far. It’s the first kind of complete game we’ve played this season where I thought we were aggressive from the start," said Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry. "I told the guys this is something we have to try to build on though; we don’t need to take a step backwards either. We have to keep trying to take a step forward.”

Spurs power forward Tim Duncan failed to grab a single rebound. It marks the first time in his illustrious NBA career he hasn't registered at least one, a span that lasted 19 seasons and 1,343 games.

New Orleans (2-11) will look to make it two wins in a row Sunday when they host the Phoenix Suns. Tip-off from the Smoothie King Center is set for 5:00.