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The last time Anthony Davis saw the Utah Jazz, he scored a career-high 43 points and made it look uncomfortably easy in doing so.
And as recently as a few days ago, it looked like Davis wouldn't be around for the rematch, since a chest contusion sent him to the hospital and caused him to miss Sunday's game against Golden State.
Davis is now back. He went through shootaround this morning in New Orleans and he's cleared to play against the Jazz tonight. That means Utah will be facing one of the five best players in the NBA.
Good luck with that.
"He's tough to play against and tough to double-team," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. "The last time we played against him, he hit a lot of jumpers, so he's really a tough guy to cover."
Three weeks ago, Davis seemingly made every shot he put up against the Jazz, draining 15-footers, posting up and scoring, running the floor for easy dunks.
Davis is good enough right now that nobody is going to truly stop him. He's reached the pantheon where he will have an impact on games no matter what the other team does. The key for Utah is making it difficult on him: Trying to make him take a lot of shots to get his points, keeping him out of transition, keeping him from securing offensive rebounds, keeping him from the highlight kind of plays that rev up a crowd.
That is definitely easier said than done. But the Jazz know Davis is good enough to get his. They just have to prevent him from truly taking over the game. Snyder said he didn't know what player he'd match Davis up against as of yet.
"He's a good player," Snyder said. "It's hard to double him, gets to the rim, and he can score in a variety of ways. Everyone has to be conscious of him. We can't just go out and guard him with one guy."
— Tony Jones