When an All-Star replacement needed to be named for the injured Kobe Bryant, there was no way the league was going to pass up the opportunity to have the host city’s team represented, and Anthony Davis was certainly deserving of the honor.
But so was Goran Dragic.
The Suns’ point guard has played at an elevated level all season long, and has raised his game even more since Eric Bledsoe was lost with a knee injury. And let’s not forget, the Suns are 10 games over .500, firmly entrenched in the Western Conference playoff picture after a thorough 122-109 drubbing of the Warriors on Saturday.
Golden State was without David Lee and Andrew Bogut, but their presence would have mattered little in terms of Dragic’s output in this one. He scored a career-high 34 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-7 from three-point distance, to go along with 10 assists.
It was a masterful performance, and one that showed yet again that Dragic is in fact an All-Star this season, even though he won’t be on the court with the rest of them on Feb. 16 in New Orleans.
