Anthony Davis had a season for the history books. He was unbelievable on both ends of the floor, growing more than seemed possible for someone who was already that good and firmly establishing himself as the future ruler of the basketball universe.
Alas, the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors are an unbelievable juggernaut, and despite Davis and his New Orleans Pelicans putting up an honorable fight, their season ended at the hands of Steph Curry on Saturday night.
The Warriors took Game 4 109-98 to sweep the series with a box score line that doesn't do justice to how close the series actually was.
In another season, with fewer injuries or a weaker Western Conference, Davis and the Pelicans may have been more fortunate than to draw the 67-win Warriors, but basketball's not always fair. Give Davis immense credit - he finished with 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting and added 11 rebounds and three blocks - and bet the house he'll be making noise again in the playoffs some time very soon.
Game 1: 35 and 7.
Game 2: 26 and 11.
Game 3: 29 and 15.
Game 4: 36 and 11.
This is just the beginning of Anthony Davis' reign.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) April 26, 2015
Turning Point
Things looked bleak for the Pelicans entering the fourth quarter. They trailed 88-67 and the Warriors were going for the kill, leaving Curry in the game.
Not willing to let their season end on their home court, the Pelicans valiantly fought back, trimming the lead to 95-85 with six minutes to play. But they were unable to inch closer than that, with the two sides trading buckets for most of the game's final minutes and Klay Thompson hitting a dagger three with one minute to play.
New Orleans won the final frame 31-21 thanks to a 61.9-percent shooting mark and eight points each from Davis and Eric Gordon, but they had just dug themselves too deep a hole to climb out of.
Star Performer
Curry is unbelievable.
The ease with which he scores is remarkable - video proof is on the way in just a moment - and completely impossible to contain. Your hope as an opponent is to force the rest of the ridiculously talented Warriors to beat you and cross your fingers Curry doesn't get hot.
On Saturday, Curry got hot.
With a 6-of-8 mark from outside and an 11-of-12 mark from the line, Curry cruised to 39 points on 20 field goal attempts, adding eight rebounds and nine assists for good measure.
Curry and Davis have now combined for six of the top seven scoring nights of the playoffs, with Curry averaging an unfathomable 33.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists on .453/.417/.853 shooting.
Just trying to explain the experience of watching Steph Curry to my future kids is gonna be crazy.
— Jared Dubin (@JADubin5) April 26, 2015
Highlight Reel
There was a lot of Curry in this game. There's always a lot of Curry. Most of the things he does on a basketball court are inexplicable under the laws of physics and just downright unfair for the purposes of competitive play.
For example, how is this pass possible? How does someone possess that kind of vision and the physical acumen to make such a dish? And what does an opponent try to do against it?
And then there's his unlimited range, which renders defenders useless if they get hung up on a screen for even a moment.
Not even Davis - you know, the Defensive Player of the Year candidate with the insane length who can block just about anything - can do much when Chef Curry gets cooking:
Series at a Glance
Game 1: Warriors 106, Pelicans 99 (Warriors lead 1-0)
Game 2: Warriors 97, Pelicans 87 (Warriors lead 2-0)
Game 3: Warriors 123, Pelicans 119 (OT) (Warriors lead 3-0)
Game 4: Warriors 109, Pelicans 98 (Warriors win series 4-0)
