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NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis’ season ended three games early with a sprained medial collateral ligament and a bone bruise to his left knee.
But it wasn’t too early for Hornets coach Monty Williams to know that his rookie forward had grown, showing promise for the future.
“You look at his last five games, 18 and 10, something like that – that’s what we wanted,” Williams said. “We wanted to see him get consistently get better from when we first got a hold of him until now. We wanted to see a guy that was more comfortable on the floor, obviously scoring the ball, rebounding the ball, defending.
“Look at his lumps, he got better every month.”
Davis ended his season playing 64 games instead of the full 82 because of various injuries. But with less than a week left in the season, he has done enough to show that he had a positive year.
He’s fourth in the NBA among rookies, averaging 13.5 points per game. His 1.75 blocked shots per game are most among first-year players, as is his 8.2 rebound per game average.