Tom Thibodeau impressionné par Anthony Davis
Les Chicago Bulls se déplacent ce soir à la Nouvelle Orléans pour y affronter les Hornets qui ont bien relevé la tête depuis qu’ils sont au complet. Ils vont notamment pouvoir compter sur Anthony Davis qui a impressionné Tom Thibodeau
Il est juste incroyable. Ses qualités sont uniques. Son timing, ses contres, ses qualités athlétiques.
Et c’est un joueur de basket. Il peut dribbler, shooter un peu. Vous pouvez voir qu’il est de plus en plus confiant à chaque fois qu’il rentre sur le terrain. Il fait de nombreuses choses qui ne s’apprennent pas.
Anthony Davis ne sera sans doute pas le rookie de l’année – trophée qui semble être promis à Damian Lillard – mais il est sans doute celui qui impressionne le plus les joueurs et les coachs.
Davis starred at Chicago’s Perspectives Charter High School before leading Kentucky to last season’s national championship.
Drafted first overall, he missed New Orleans’ first game against the Bulls at the United Center on Nov. 3 because of a concussion. The Hornets won anyway, 89-82.
Davis is averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks and had a monster night Wednesday against Portland (21 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes).
“The things he does, sometimes you say: ‘Geez, how did he make up that ground?’” Thibodeau said. “He has the ability to cover up for a lot of mistakes.”
Back in town: Bulls guard Marco Belinelli returns to New Orleans, where he played the previous two seasons.
“You want to come here, play a good game and especially win,” he said. “This is an important game for us, and especially for me.”
Belinelli started the season terribly but is having a solid February, averaging 12.3 points on 47.2 percent shooting.
“At the start of the season, I was a little nervous,” he said, “but now I have confidence from Coach and my teammates.”
Tip-ins: Thibodeau rarely sheds light on his lineup but said Kirk Hinrich, back from an infected elbow, will get the start. Hinrich is OK despite missing the last seven games, the coach said, because “he was able to do a lot of the conditioning after they cleaned (the elbow) out. He spent a lot of time shooting.” … The Bulls went 2-5 without Hinrich against a tough slate of teams. … The Hornets plan to start Eric Gordon, who missed the last two games with a hand injury. Gordon, who also missed the Nov. 3 game at the United Center, scored a season-high 27 points against Atlanta on Feb. 8 but is shooting just 40.3 percent this season. Thibodeau still called him “one of the elite players in the league.” … New Orleans is just 19-34 but went 4-1 heading into the All-Star Break with back-to-back blowout victories.