Nobody in NBA history has ever scored as many points as Anthony Davis just did while playing against their former team for the first time. Kevin Durant hung 39 on the Oklahoma City Thunder during his first matchup with his former team in 2016. Stephon Marbury dropped 39 on the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2000 the first time he played against the franchise he broke into the league with, and Danny Ainge scored 39 as well against the Boston Celtics in 1989. But during a hard-fought 114-110 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Davis went for a game-high 41.
While meeting the Pelicans for the first time since he requested a trade last year from the franchise he spent six seasons with, the Los Angeles Lakers big man was simply spectacular. Davis connected on 50% of his field-goal attempts while scoring 41 points to go along with nine rebounds. He combined with LeBron James to total 70 points on the evening between the two of them–which tied for the most points the superstar duo has scored in a game this year–and helped the Lakers to their 16th victory of the season.
Anthony Davis returns to the Big Easy to face the Pelicans for the first time at 9:30 ET on ESPN.
According to @EliasSports, the record for most points in a player's first game against his former team is 39:
– Kevin Durant vs OKC
– Stephon Marbury vs MIN
– Danny Ainge vs BOS pic.twitter.com/gG0ceUto98— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 27, 2019
The Lakers have now won nine-straight games which is tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for the longest active win-streak in the NBA. But improving to 16-2 overall wasn’t easy for Los Angeles. Despite 14 first quarter points from A.D., the Lakers trailed by double-digits early on. LeBron offered 16 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, though, while Kyle Kuzma scored nine in the final period in support of a monster night from Davis to help L.A. rally for the victory.
As a note, during LeBron’s first game against his former Cleveland Cavaliers team as a member of the Miami Heat he scored 38 points. During his first game against Miami after returning to Cleveland James dropped 30, and last season with the Lakers he scored 32 against the Cavs the first time he played them. But he never gave his former team as many as the 41 points that Davis did on Friday the first time he met them as an opposing player and nobody else has either in the history of the sport.
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