New Orleans Pelicans 106 Utah Jazz 94 Game Recap: Anthony Davis remains ridiculous

Yes, it's true, Anthony Davis is ridiculous. Despite not having Omer Asik in the paint to get his back he almost single-highhandedly took apart everything the Utah Jazz threw at him. At the end of the game his New Orleans Pelicans were the victors, up 106-94 over a home team that was still looking for answers.

Like most games this was, truly, a game of runs., The first quarter saw the Jazz hang tough with the potential Western conference playoff team, but give in a little for an 11-3 run when Gordon Hayward stepped off the floor. (This seems to be a tragic trend so far this season) The Jazz defense wasn't doing it, but at least with Hayward the offense is able to keep up with almost every team out there. Early in the second quarter the Pelicans went on a 9-0 and right before halftime a 9-1 run. They were on their last game of a road trip and trying to run the Jazz out of their own building on their way to the airport.

Enes Kanter, Trevor Booker, and Derrick Favors couldn't handle Davis, who had 21 points at halftime. (Really?)

The Jazz climbed back from being 19 points down with a heroic third quarter by Gordon Hayward, and the Jazz went on 10-2 and 11-4 runs. The lead was only 5 points for New Orleans going into the fourth quarter, in the ESA. Sadly, there wasn't enough left for the Jazz to make that final push. And the Pelicans did enough to escape with a solid victory.

Anthony Davis would finish with a career-high 43 points, 14 rebounds, and wound up shooting 69.6 fg% and 91.7 fg%. It was a great game for him. Jrue Holiday added 19 and 9 with 6 rebounds, if the game was closer he may have played enough for a triple double. Two Jazz killers, Tyreke Evans (4/13 shooting) and Ryan Anderson (2/15) didn't have great nights, and their bench only scored 21 points. They didn't need to score much more when Davis is dropping half a Kobe on the Jazz.

Gordon Hayward's 31 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block performance is what is going to eventually drive the team to many wins, provided there's a little more help out there. Trey Burke bounced back with a 20 points night (8/12 shooting, 2/5 from deep, 2/3 from the stripe), and Derrick Favors had another double double with 13/11, but was largely ineffective against Davis. A bright spot was Trevor Booker (10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block) and Rudy Gobert (5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal) off the bench. They didn't miss a field goal and were doing things on the floor, sadly their play didn't affect any greater change in how the team played.

Enes Kanter only played 17 minutes in this game, and Alec Burks shot 1/11. On this night the 2010 Draft class was better than the 2011 Draft class for the Jazz, even if Jeremy Evans had another DNP-CD.