Ryan Anderson has had an impossibly difficult road. He has struggled with injuries for the last few years of his career in New Orleans, which has hampered his production and ability to stay on the court. He has had to deal with the tragedy of his girlfriend's suicide. For those of you haven't read this Chris Ballard feature on Anderson, do so now.
But it all came together Thursday night, where he put together an amazing 26 point performance by hitting a wide variety of shots from all parts of the floor. Anderson's mid-range game makes him one of the most versatile NBA bigs out there, and he put defensive player of the year runner up Draymond Green in the torture chamber with a series of stepbacks, post-ups and three point shots. Anderson looked like mini-Dirk Nowitzki last night and really gave New Orleans a chance to cut the Golden State lead to 2-1.
For some reason, Monty Williams stopped feeding him the ball down the stretch. Oh well, your loss New Orleans. I'm sure most Cal fans will be happy with Anderson balling out like that.
So happy to see Ryan back on the court and doing his thing! GO BEARS!