Davis says Pelicans could have gone to Finals with a healthy Cousins

Anthony Davis isn't giving up on the New Orleans Pelicans' season, but he thinks the team could have made a run to the NBA Finals if DeMarcus Cousins hadn't suffered a season-ending injury.

"We could have gone through the playoffs," Davis told ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "No one could really stop us as bigs. We go to the Finals if (Cousins wasn't hurt)."

Cousins went down with a ruptured Achilles on Jan. 26. Davis honored his teammate by wearing Cousins' jersey in the first half of Sunday's All-Star Game.

With 25 games to go in the regular season, the Pelicans sit in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It's debatable that a healthy New Orleans squad could have taken down the Golden State Warriors or the Houston Rockets.

Related: 3 questions stemming from DeMarcus Cousins' injury

When Cousins suffered his injury, the Pelicans were in sixth place in the West. The last bottom-four playoff team to make the NBA Finals in a non-lockout season were the Rockets in 1994-95.

Davis knows the Pels are in tough now, but is taking inspiration from Russell Westbrook carrying the Thunder when Kevin Durant went down for the season in 2014-15 (Oklahoma City missed the playoffs that year).

"You kind of have that Russell Westbrook mentality when (Durant) went out," Davis said. "Russ just went out there and played, and he shot 40 shots sometimes, you know, whatever it takes to help your team win, and I'm kind of taking that approach ... we can't let this thing go away."