NBA Playoffs 2018: Grading the New Orleans Pelicans players

#1 Anthony Davis: A++

Fear the unibrow

No other person has had more impact on one team during these playoffs than Anthony Davis has had on the Pelicans. Davis stepped up blindingly after DeMarcus Cousins went down with injury, producing day in and day out in the regular season, and carried his brilliance right into the playoffs.

The very first match of the Playoffs, the Brow took control of the Blazers by completely neutralizing their franchise player Damian Lillard in Game 1 and then proceeded to continually overcome any and every form of defense that the Blazers threw at him in the first round.

He produced a brilliant 33 points per game shooting 57.6% from the field in the Conference Quarterfinals, which included a 47-point game in the close-out match versus the Blazers, to go along with 11.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game during the entirety of the series.

What the stats do not show is the simply transcendent nature of Davis's game, his application, his athleticism at finishing some very difficult plays,including alley-oop after alley-oop, the way he drew in defenders allowing the other Pelicans to score, his chemistry with Rondo, Holiday and Mirotic and his willingness to go to the extra distance to ensure his team gets the best plays in.

Davis ended his first playoff run into the Conference semifinals averaging 30.1 points per game on 52% shooting, along with 13.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, and although they were eventually defeated by the full strength Warriors, Kevin Durant himself has spoken of Davis' excellence.

With his play, Anthony Davis has spoken volumes about his desire to bring the NBA Championship to New Orleans. This is just the beginning for Playoff Davis.