On Friday night, in their 115-113 victory over the Houston Rockets, the New Orleans Pelicans (27-21) were dealt a crushing blow during the closing seconds of regulation when All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins ruptured his left Achilles tendon, essentially ending his 2017-18 season. Replacing a player of Cousins' caliber simply cannot be done, but All-Star power forward Anthony Davis is determined to maintain the Pelicans' push in the Western Conference playoff race.
In a video posted on the official Twitter account of the Pelicans on Saturday afternoon, Davis opened up about Cousins' injury to the media and said that he would be fine with playing center in head coach Alvin Gentry's offense when needed.
“I mean, if it has to be done, I'm OK with it,” We're not sure what the lineup is going to be or how we're going to play it, but I'm pretty strong at playing the five [center],” Davis said.
Davis noted that he was impressed with others on the team stepping up lately, as he mentioned the strong play of Jrue Holliday, E'Twaun Moore, and Darius Miller.
“Everybody’s playing well. Jrue’s playing well, E’Twaun, Darius. We’ve just got to carry that over to the rest of the season. Of course, missing one of our main guys is tough, but it means guys have to step up… It starts tomorrow,” Davis said.
The loss of Cousins will put quite a weight on Davis' shoulders, as the Pelicans big man will draw even more attention from defenders than usual. The timing of the injury is awful for the team, as New Orleans was really clicking on all cylinders and had won seven of its last eight games.
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