NEW ORLEANS — It wasn’t the scorn from the fans who used to love him that hurt the most.

It was Josh Hart, running for a rebound on full steam, connecting with Anthony Davis’ right elbow.

The 6-foot-10 forward, whose mere gaze can ward a ball-handler from testing the paint, crumpled to the Smoothie King Center court as the third quarter ended Wednesday night. He howled as he clutched his injured arm, and a crowd that had spent the night booing him with varying levels of intensity suddenly was reduced to hushed, unsure whispers.

For a few minutes as a trainer worked on his elbow, it was unclear if Davis would be able to finish his much-anticipated return game. But at the 7:41 mark of the fourth quarter, out of a timeout, he checked back in with a dunk that cut a lead that once had ballooned to 16 down to two points.

That moment of uncertainty – when Davis feared he might leave New Orleans with neither his health nor a win against his old team – passed fleetingly. For the rest of the quarter, Davis and his new compatriots were able to edge the hot-starting, but wilting, Pelicans, rallying for a 114-110 victory.

“He performed unbelievably,” Frank Vogel said. “It was a tough environment, getting booed every time he touched the basketball, playing against a bunch of guys that know him, playing against a coach that knows him. And he put all that stuff aside, blocked out the noise and rose to the challenge and had a great game.”

The final turnover, fittingly, was notched by Davis who had a game-high 41 points, intercepting an inbounds pass over former Laker Brandon Ingram. Two free throws later, the Lakers (16-2) were ahead by four, their ninth consecutive victory near assured.

Before tip-off even, some of Davis’ own tension had been allayed by his teammates, who wanted to help him knock off the team that once made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft.

“They said it pregame, we don’t want to leave this building without a win,” he said. “I think this game was circled on both calendars.”

Davis was the leading man by virtue of his season-high scoring total. The Lakers fed him, even to their detriment, on the low block, as he drained shots against Kenrich Williams and Jahlil Okafor, the teammates he left behind when he was traded in June. He wound up taking a season-high 30 shots, making 15.

It felt very much like old times for Davis, who concentrated on the friendly trash talk with the Pelicans rather than the feedback from the stands.

“There was one where Kenrich is on me, and I score, and I say he was too little. And he’s laughing. We got a bond off the floor that no one can take no matter the circumstances,” Davis said.

But LeBron James (29 points, 11 assists) lit the fuse for the comeback: The forward scored or assisted on all but two of the Lakers’ field goals in their 35-point fourth quarter. The Lakers outscored the Pelicans by 14 in the final frame. Much of that key stretch came in the tense minutes when Davis sat on the bench.

During the fourth-quarter rally, James surpassed 33,000 career points – only the fourth player in NBA history to reach that mark. In a collision with Hart himself in the second quarter, James gritted through, determined to let Davis feel something he’s known as well – the satisfaction of beating your old team.

“Anytime you go back to a place where you’ve made a mark and you started your career and you’ve played significant minutes and gave a lot to the community and gave a lot to the franchise, you want to come back and play well and you want to win,” he said. “Because at the end of the day that’s what this league is all about.”

While the game was a dizzying array of storylines from players who had been traded over the summer, one of the most critical shots came from Kyle Kuzma – who the Lakers pressed to hold on to during their summer negotiations with the Pelicans. He hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:07 left, the standout moment of a 16-point night.

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Social Media reacts after LeBron James dominates in the clutch, Lakers on to NBA finals It was not always so easy: The Lakers dragged for three quarters, playing post-up after post-up through Davis while allowing their high-tempo hosts to hit 3-pointers from all sides. The Pelicans shot 9 for 11 from the arc in the first quarter alone, finishing with 17 3-pointers in the game.

Jrue Holiday led the Pelicans with 29 points, 25 in the first half alone. Ingram had 23 points in his first game against his former team.

Davis smiled as the final buzzer sounded, and hugged Holiday, who earlier in the day he had called one of his truest friends. The two swapped jerseys and the small array of boos still ringing seemed not to bother him at all.

“Some people boo and they don’t even know why,” James said. “They just want to be a part of the spectacle. Some people are not even from New Orleans and are here for the game and they just be booing. But you heard a lot of cheers tonight for A.D. as well because they still love him and they still love the people that he spent seven years with and that relationship there. But definitely he can now move on.”

Kuzma was less charitable to the Pelicans faithful: “New Orleans fans should probably boo their own team for letting him get 40 when you come back.”