The first full night of NBA action of the 2016-17 season, which saw 20 teams in action, featured some crazy stat lines.
The most incredible performance of the night came in a loss as Anthony Davis scored a ridiculous 50 points to go along with 16 rebounds, seven steals, five assists and four blocks.
Davis’ performance is one of the most impressive if not the most impressive you will see all season. It’s a shame it was done in a losing effort at home. The Pelicans starting front court alongside Davis, Omer Asik and Solomon Hill only mustered four points in 44 minutes and the Pelicans bench scored a measly 23 points. That would explain why the Pelicans lost to the Nuggets 107-102.
Next on the list of eye popping performances was James Harden, who christened in the Mike D’Antoni era in Houston. His first game as a point guard role resulted in 34 points, 17 assists and eight rebounds. Harden’s Rockets looked great offensively and scored points at will while also giving up points at an alarming rate in a 120-114 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Other impressive performances included Myles Turner (still only 20 years old) dropping 30 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in the Pacers 130-121 overtime victory over the Mavericks and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist putting up 23 points and 14 rebounds in his return after missing last season with an injury.
You can tell much of the NBA has converted to a faster-paced, free flowing style of basketball that includes a lot of ball movement as their have been 605 assists in 13 NBA games this season. That basically equates to 23.3 assists per team thus far as a league average which would have been good for 9th overall in the NBA last season.
There has also been quite of bit of scoring around the league to start the season. The league average for scoring is right around 200, which means teams are averaging 100 points per game on average, another sign of the increased offensive skill and pace seen in the league right now.
Here’s to hoping for more high-scoring affairs and mind-blowing stat lines in the 2016-17 season.
