NBA
Carmelo Anthony Climbs NBA Scoring List During Big Performance
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated07 Aug 2024
The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their first win of the NBA season Friday night, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 121-118. The player of the game? 37 year old Carmelo Anthony, who was playing in just his third game as a Laker.
Not only did his scoring outburst lead the Lakers to victory it also moved him up on the NBA’s all time scoring list. Melo connected on a third quarter three pointer that officially vaulted him ahead of NBA legend Moses Malone for the ninth spot on the all time scoring list.
That three was part of his 28 point performance, which lead the way for the Purple and Gold. Not too long ago Melo was sitting at home with there being legitimate questions of if he was going to play in the NBA again. The Portland Trail Blazers led the way in bringing him back. Melo showed he still had quite a bit left in the tank.
Now he is playing alongside his close friend LeBron James for the Los Angeles Lakers with real title aspirations. It only took until the third game for vintage Melo to show up. That was the perfect time to get the Lakers that first win. It’s also a reminder to everyone that he still knows how to get buckets. Just like he did for all those years in New York and in Denver.
As recent years have seen Carmelo transition into a role player following many years in the league as a legit superstar, it was nice to see him go get it all night like he did for so many years. Add in that he climbed one step higher on the all time scoring list during the performance and it’s a good time to remind ourselves that very few people have ever been able to do what he could do on the offensive end of the court.
Even at 37 years old he seems to have quite a few more buckets left in him. Let this serve as a reminder to appreciate those buckets because we almost lost Carmelo from the league not too long ago. What a story it would be if he could continue to go north of 25 minutes per contest and potentially compete for the Sixth Man of the Year Award?
That’s far ahead. Melo already has a lot of things to look ahead to. One of which is Shaquille O’Neal himself, who sits at the 8th spot on the all time NBA list.
Carmelo Anthony is a future Hall of Famer with his resume as is, although by the looks of it, he is going to keep adding to that resume moving forward. That could be big for the Lakers, as well.
