It has not been a solid start for the Western Conference Finalist from a season ago in the Portland Trail Blazers. They have dealt with injuries to key personnel. Their new additions have so far not panned out like they had hoped and the addition of future Hall of Famer did very little to quiet their critics. They did show some signs of improvement after two close losses to close out last week and this week seemed to have turned a corner winning two games against inferior opponents.
The Trail Blazers (7-12) snapped a four-game losing streak with a resounding 117-94 win at the Chicago Bulls (6-13) on Monday night led by their newest addition in future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony, who signed a non-guaranteed contract with the team last week led the way with 25 points, with 12 points coming in the opening period and eight rebounds, on 10 for 20 shooting, including 4 for 7 from three-point range in his fourth game.
CJ McCollum was second in scoring with 21 points, while starting small forward Rodney Hood had 16 points with six rebounds. Starting center Hassan Whiteside contributed a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds with two block shots. All-Star lead guard Damian Lillard had 13 points with 12 assists and reserve big man Skal Labissiere had 12 points and eight boards off the bench to help the Trail Blazers conclude their six-game road trip at 2-4.
“I’m starting to get my feel and flow back,” Anthony, who was 15 for 44 shooting (34.1 percent) in his first three games with the team said to NBC Sports Northwest’s Brook Olzendam after the win. “I told you before, I’m just taking it one day at a time, man.”
“The last game in Cleveland I was flat. For me it was like three games in four nights come off of a year of vacation. But tonight, felt like I had my bop. I had my bounce, had my pop. We got it going. Tonight, was a game we had to win. It was a great game to end the road trip.”
Head Coach Terry Stotts’ squad continued their good vibes they got from their time in the “Windy City” as in Anthony’s home debut with his new team tallied 19 points on an efficient 9 for 11 shooting in 25 minutes as the Trail Blazers registered a 136-119 win versus the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder (6-11) on Wednesday night.
Lillard, who had missed a couple on the road trip due to back spasms led the way with 27 points going 5 for 9 from three-point range with five rebounds and five assists. McCollum chipped in with 22 points on 4 for 7 from three-point range. Whiteside had another double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds, while second-year reserve guard Anfernee Simons scored 14 off the bench.
“I think guys are just starting to feel a little big more relaxed and at ease,” Anthony said after the win. “When I first got here last week, and met those guys in New Orleans, I think it was the hype of the excitement of me coming to the team, guys not really knowing how this was going to play out, how this was going to fit in, how I was going to fit in.”
As from the fact that the Trail Blazers registered two wins against two opponents that they better than, at least on paper it was a sign that they had a focus and determination to get out of the hole they dug themselves in to start this season.
For Anthony, these two games displayed the kind of work the 35-year-old 10-time All-Star has put in to get back into “The Association” after an unplanned year hiatus after he was basically casted off by the Houston Rockets after they could not, or seemed unwilling to fit him into their pecking order behind All-Stars James Harden, the 2018 Kia MVP and nine-time All-Star Chris Paul, whose now with the Thunder.
Anthony had already had a difficult divorce from the Thunder two seasons back after acquiring him from the New York Knicks in the summer of 2017. He was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks in a massive three-team deal in late July 2018, who waived him five days later.
When Anthony got into the doghouse with the Rockets, he was basically banished from the team for more over two months until he was shipped to the Bulls in a financial sweeping. The Bulls, who wooed Anthony in the summer of 2014 when he was an unrestricted free agent, gave him the pink slip after just a week.
Even after all that, Anthony kept himself in shape by working with his personal trainer and sometimes playing pickup ball with current and former NBA players in the summer and getting up shots at Sky Lifetime Athletic in New York, NY.
In his first game with the Trail Blazers, where he started at power forward in their 115-104 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans (6-12) 10 days ago, Anthony played like a he was off for more than a year scoring 10 points on 4 for 14 shooting in 24 minutes, though he was 2 for 3 from three-point range.
He looked much better two nights later scoring 18 points with seven rebounds and four assists on 6 for 15 shooting in the Trail Blazer’s 137-129 loss at the Milwaukee Bucks on TNT in 29 minutes of work.
Anthony though seemed to take a step back in the Trail Blazers’ 110-104 loss at the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-13) last Saturday night where he had just 11 points on 5 for 15 shooting.
It was not just the fact that he consistently made shots on his way to the stellar night he had at the Bulls on Monday, it was the fact that Anthony took the shots that he wanted to, like from the mid-range, which has become a frown upon shot in “The Association” today. Also, that he as mentioned had a bounce to his step to where he even had a monster dunk that came off of a right baseline drive that he threw it down with two hands.
Also, on this night, Anthony (25,634 career points) passed Alex English (25,613) for No. 18 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Midway point of the fourth quarter when Anthony exited the game for good when the outcome was decided the Bulls fans in the United Center chanted, “We want ‘Melo!’ We want ‘Melo!’
“The support is unreal,” Anthony said to Olzendam about receiving that support from the fans in the arena. “I think everyone kind of appreciates me just staying humble. Remaining who I am. Remaining true to myself.”
“The work I put in is leading me to this moment and it’s one night, you know? I take it with a grain of salt but we move on and we go home. It’s a long way back home.”
Along with the support he has gotten from his peers and loyal fans, two people who have been in Anthony’s corner throughout this long road back to playing in the league are his wife in actress and entrepreneur Alani Nicole “La La” Anthony, who was in town working on the Showtime series “The Chi” was at the game and on her phone facetiming with their son Kiyan. At one point in the game Mrs. Anthony showed her phone to her husband while he was on the sidelines during a timeout so he could say hello.
“I mean sometimes we don’t cherish these moments, right? We take these moments for granted,” Anthony said, “but my wife being here, my son is on facetime-I mean there here. The support is here with my family…Just to have here, and my son on the facetime like that goes a long way. Anytime we can get to share that, we will do it.”
It is not just Anthony that has found joy again with this chance to finish his career on his own terms, the Trail Blazers have found joy again, which is what winning will do for a team.
This is a team that has dealt with the loss of starting big man Zach Collins, who injured his shoulder in the team’s 121-119 win at the Dallas Mavericks (11-6) on Oct. 27, that required surgery that will have the former Gonzaga Bulldog on the shelf for four months. They are also still without the services of starting center Jusuf Nurkic, who is still recovering from a major leg injury sustained last March and there is no timetable for his return.
The Trail Blazers were in need of just another scorer to go alongside Lillard and McCollum, but they needed a spark and Anthony has given that to them these last two games.
What has also been a major help for the Trail Blazers is Anthony has come into this opportunity just simply wanting to be part of a team again. He wanted to as previously mentioned have the chance for a final chapter of his Hall of Fame career. To fit in with a team to where he is not the star attraction. That he can play a role, whether he starts or comes off the bench. Whether be played 35 minutes or 10 minutes.
It took Anthony doing a lot of self-reflection and simply putting in the work as mentioned earlier and just being ready for when that phone call came, which it did from the Trail Blazers.
“It was an embarrassment. It was an echo hit. It was a pride hit,” Anthony said to TNT’s Allie LaForce before the Trail Blazers contest at the Bucks last week about the dark feelings he had about not being in the NBA. “You know, I felt like I didn’t want to be around nobody. It was definitely an ego hit for me, and I think that was the hardest part to just swallow my ego and let that go. And it went to do I really want to do this anymore?”
Anthony also added that he asked that question when he sat down with his family and with himself asking if putting himself out there was worth it?
It clearly was to Anthony because he put the work in not just in the gym staying in shape but getting his mental and spiritual makeup right and getting the right people around him that wanted to see him back on the NBA hardwood.
One person who has been in his corner over the years, especially during his climb back into “The Association” is Anthony’s good friend and former teammate Paul.
“‘Melo’s’ tough. Especially on that mid-post where he’s built a career,” Paul, who had 16 points for the Thunder in the loss on Wednesday night said. “He’s one of the best to ever play right there so I love defending him. That’s my brother right there. We went to dinner last night. I always want to see him do well, except against us.”
From the Trail Blazers side of things, they have done something for Anthony that he clearly did not have in his last two stops with the Rockets and Thunder, transparency of what his role was going to be.
“I’ve approached the game differently. I talked to Coach Stotts and I said, ‘Look, the only thing I would like for you to do for me is just be transparent with me,” Anthony said to LaForce. “If you want me to do XYZ, I don’t have no problem doing it. Just let me know up front and we both can be transparent, and we can make this thing work.”
Coach Stotts was transparent with him letting Anthony know what his role was going to be, what is expected of him and that they were ready for him to join up like “yesterday.”
It took some time, a very long time over a year. But Carmelo Anthony is back on the NBA hardwood with the Portland Trail Blazers and they are counting on him big time to help them get back on track.
After a rough beginning where they lost their first three games with him in the lineup, they have won their last two and seem to be finding their rhythm.
Whether that will equate to them first getting back above the .500 mark and into the playoff picture in the stacked Western Conference remains to be seen.
The Trail Blazers at least have given themselves some hope of this season and for Anthony, he has gotten that chance to finish his career however this opportunity with his new team last on his own terms.
“I’m gonna be patient. I know what I can still do from a basketball standpoint. It’s just I have to humble myself. I have to get rid of my ego. I have to get rid of my pride,” Anthony said.
He also added after the Trail Blazers’ win versus the Thunder on Thursday, “I wanted to come in, just play basketball and find my joy again, and the excitement of playing basketball, what it should be. I’ve found that early on so far. I’ve found that happiness, that joy, in the way guys were able to open this up to me with open arms and bring me in here as one of their own.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 11/22/19 1 a.m. edition of “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 11/22/19 www.nba.com story “Carmelo Anthony Hoping To Craft Own Ending To Career,” by Steve Aschburner; 11/25/19 8 p.m. “Portland Trail Blazers versus Chicago Bulls” on NBC Sports Northwest with Kevin Calabro, Lamar Hurd, and Brooke Olzendam; 11/26/19 6 a.m. edition NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by Kia with Matt Winer, Dave Joerger, and Kevin McHale; 11/28/19 2:30 a.m. edition NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Matt Winer and Dennis Scott; https://www.nba.com/games/20191125/PORCHI#/boxscore; https://www.nba.com/games/20191127/OKCPOR#/boxscore; https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameid=401160907; https://www.espn.com/nb/standings; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/por; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelo_Anthony#Personal_life.
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