'This game was a battle.' Anthony Davis sets franchise record as Pelicans sweep Blazers.
Former University of Kentucky star Anthony Davis scored a franchise playoff-record 47 points, and the New Orleans Pelicans completed a first-round playoff sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers with a 131-123 victory on Saturday in New Orleans.
Jrue Holiday added 41 points.
“We knew that this game was going to be extremely hard,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said. “We knew we were going to have to play probably our best game of this series in order to win. I thought Jrue and AD stepped up big.
"In a closeout game, with the magnitude of the situation, this is probably the best game he's played since I've been here," Gentry said of Davis. "He just was not going to let us lose."
Another former UK star, Rajon Rondo, added seven points, 16 assists and seven rebounds, and Davis also had 11 rebounds and three blocks for New Orleans, which is moving on to the second round of the playoffs for only the second time since the NBA returned to the city 16 seasons ago.
“This game was a battle,” Davis said. “It got chippy. It’s playoff basketball. We just kept fighting. ...
“The crowd was amazing. It feels great to be able to go out and sweep (Portland), be able to play the way I played, have Jrue play the way he played, and the entire team for the entire series,” Davis said.
C.J. McCollum scored 38 for the Trail Blazers, which responded to a blowout loss in Game 3 by keeping Game 4 close until the final minute. Al-Farouq Aminu scored 27, Damian Lillard added 18 points and Jusuf Nurkic had 18 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.
Asked after the game about possibly playing the Golden State Warriors in the second round, Davis said, “I’ll love it. My first time going to the playoffs, they swept us. So I would love to have that matchup again, especially the way we’re playing. But it doesn’t matter who we play, we’re worried about us. We’re playing super well right now.”
The Warriors lead their series against the San Antonio Spurs 3-0 with Game 4 coming up on Sunday afternoon.
▪ Davis averaged 33.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 1.8 steals in the series. Rondo contributed 11.3 points, 13.3 assists, and 7.5 rebounds. Former Kentucky and Mason County star Darius Miller added 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range (5-for-11) in 18.5 minutes off the bench for the Pelicans.
▪ The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 8:46 PM with the headline "'This game was a battle.' Anthony Davis sets franchise record as Pelicans sweep Blazers.."