One of the best standup comedians ever to grace a microphone is Eddie Murphy. Murphy performed a wonderful standup in 1987 titled Raw. The iconic comedian made the audience laugh with punchline after punchline, but one quote was told around the water cooler daily, “Eddie, what have you done for me lately… HALF.” Now, the word “half” in the standup retained to Eddie Murphy’s fictional story which included giving half of everything he owes to a woman he found in Africa and married. The assumption that receiving half of everything would make her happy.
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Anthony Davis had a monumental opening night against the Denver Nuggets. The “Brow” scored 50 points and had 16 rebounds, but the New Orleans Pelicans still lost the game (107-102). This is starting to look like a broken record when it comes to the Pelicans. Davis gives 100% on the court and does everything he can to lead his team to victory, but come up short. After the game, Davis can go in the locker room and like Eddie’s storied wife, he can ask,” Pelicans, what have you done for me lately?” If he looked at that box score, he could see exactly what they have done…HALF. This "HALF" though would not make the former number one overall pick happy like it did for Eddie's wife. Davis recorded 50 points, the rest of the roster gave 52. Davis grabbed 16 rebounds and his 10 teammates that played grabbed 18.
It is a long 82 game season for the Pelicans, so one loss can’t be all bad. If Davis has another big night, the Pelicans should be able to follow suit. Next game was against the Western Conference Champions, Golden State Warriors. Davis dropped 45 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. The rest of the team did a little better adding on 69 points and 32 rebounds. They faced the super team Warriors, though, so they should get a pass if they lose, right? The Warriors are number one in most points allowed by an opponent with 114 points, The Pels put up exactly that in a (122-114) lost.
The opening week didn’t get any better for the Pelicans as they had to face the team that beat the Warriors opening night, The San Antonio Spurs. Once again, the Pelicans lost, this time in grand fashion, getting blown out (98-79). Davis only had 18 points and 5 rebounds, but this shows that the Pelicans need Davis to put up astronomical numbers just to lose with dignity.
The first two games are early complications, but the third game should be a wake-up call to head coach Alvin Gentry. If Davis can’t produce close to a 50-point night every day and you don’t have your starting point guard and shooting guard, Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans, then what’s next?
You have a rookie, Buddy Hield, who is only averaging 17 minutes a game but was considered a favorite to win Rookie of the Year before the season started. It’s early, and you can risk trial and error, so let the young rook play. Let Hield start with Davis so he can experience superstar potential challenges. If that doesn’t work, send Hield to the bench and bring out a talented sixth man in Lance Stephenson. Gentry, you have options, but if you are just going to rely on Davis until Holiday and Evans come back, then you are leading your team in the wrong direction towards failure.
Pelican fans are not going to be happy cheering for a weapon like Davis that loses constantly. They are going to look at Gentry and ask, “Gentry, what have you done for me lately?”
