As he worked to rediscover his wind and rhythm after a month-long absence, Anthony Davis’ 13-year body of work made it merely a matter of “when” a dominant, vintage performance would arrive. Fortunately for him, April 2, 2025’s end-of-game scenario presented the perfect opportunity for a reintroduction. Wearing the effects of the evening’s physical encounter on his bandaged right eye, Davis focuses nonetheless, turning a beautifully-schemed play design into a cutting alley-oop jam, extending the Dallas Mavericks’ final-quarter lead to a dozen. Turning two-way dominance into a trend immediately thereafter, Davis — with a critical block of Trae Young’s layup seconds before — graduates from game-saver to game-clincher, outspeeding Onyeka Okongwu on a straight-line drive before dropping in a go-ahead floater. If there were a thousand reasons for why Dallas traded for Davis, the 10-time All-Star illustrated many of them here, as he fueled Dallas’ seventh win (tying a league-high) on second-half road back-to-backs. Through a brilliant box score that told identical stories, Davis collected 34 points (on 14-of-23 shooting), 15 boards, one steal, five blocks, and two 3-pointers, becoming just NBA history’s sixth-ever player to produce 20 different 30-point, 10-rebound, five-block outbursts. · Apr 3, 2025