Anthony Davis forgot his jersey, couldn’t play in first half vs. Nigeria
Team USA's record-breaking 156-73 win over Nigeria (no, that's not a misprint) on Thursday featured many notable performances, including a torrent of 3-pointers and the sort of instantaneous blowout we tend to associate with the 1992 Dream Team. It was also the kind of game in which pretty much everyone got in on the fun, because the score was always absurd enough that each player could get his fair share of playing time.
In theory, that would have been particularly good news for Anthony Davis, the most recent top pick in the NBA draft and clearly the runt (relatively speaking, of course) of this year's men's basketball litter. Davis has found it hard to grab playing time among the established stars of Team USA, and any run he gets is an opportunity to show the world that he's the odds-on favorite to win Rookie of the Year in the NBA this season.
[ Related: U.S. bombs from downtown to demolish Nigeria in record fashion ]
So, as Team USA jumped out to a ridiculous 49-25 lead after one quarter, it looked as if Davis would get his time to shine. Except he didn't play until the second half, because, as reported by Craig Sager during the NBC Sports Network broadcast, Davis somehow forgot to bring his jersey. At one point, he even got out of his seat to check into the game before being sent back by head coach Mike Krzyzewski. There's as yet no indication that an older teammate hid it, or that Russell Westbrook cut up the fabric as part of some fierce fashion project.
Davis eventually recovered his jersey and was able to play in the second half, which he started off with an alley-oop from teammate Carmelo Anthony. (If you haven't noticed, Davis has had plenty of those in his limited playing time this tournament.) With the game in hand, Coach K also gave Davis plenty of minutes — he played 15 of the second half's 20 and finished with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting and six rebounds.
If Team USA is able to open up big leads against Lithuania and Argentina in their two remaining pool-play games, we can expect to see more of Davis. Next time, hopefully he remembers his uni for the first half, too.
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