Best Game Ever: Derrick Favors’ 20/20 game vs. Clippers was last one his mom saw

Dan Woike asked NBA players to tell us about the best game in their basketball career. This week: Derrick Favors.

Nov. 14, 2019

Pelicans 132, Clippers 127

20 points, 20 rebounds

Favors had been close before, a few rebounds from hitting the mark most big men never reach. He got there this season, an exciting achievement for an incredibly solid big man. But that was just part of the story. Favors’ best game ever also happened to be the last game his mother, Deandra, saw him play before she died at the age of 55.

“I’d say that was my best game because that was my mom’s last game to see me play before she passed away. That’s my best game. You kind of don’t know [what your stats are]. You might look up during a timeout or during a foul and see that you’re close and there’s like 10 minutes left. You don’t really hunt for stats, but you make sure you grab that rebound. Those things can be hard to come by. When you get close to that or get close to a triple-double or something like that, you want to at least give yourself a chance to get it. You never know if you’ll get one again. I’d been close before. That’s why it was so big for me. I’d been close a couple of times.”