The forward Carmelo Anthony emerged as the great individual protagonist in the day of the NBA to become the twenty-first player who reached the mark of 25,000 points as a professional and the first in the history of basketball of Latin origin.
The scene of the feat was the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, where his current team of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the third, in his 16-year professional career after being selected with number three by the Denver Nuggets in the 2003 university draw.
Carmelo, 33, achieved the feat with 8:30 minutes to finish the third period when he made the first of two shots of personnel and placed the score in favor of the Thunder with a partial 57-80 that helped them get the victory by 108-121, the seventh consecutive of his team.
The player of Puerto Rican origin, his father was a native of Isla del Encanto, who came to the game with 17 points to reach the mark, finished with 21 points (25,004) and be the twenty-fifth combined player of the NBA and ABA manages to overcome the barrier of 25,000 points.
But he is only the third active player when he joined his friend, forward LeBron James (30.047), of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and German power forward Dirk Nowitzki (30.851), of the Dallas Mavericks.
The fans of the Pistons gave him an ovation after scoring the personnel shot and he was congratulated by the rest of his new teammates.
At the conclusion of the game, Anthony admitted it was a special moment in his career after what had happened in recent years with the New York Knicks.
“It’s a special moment, just to be part of a class like that so bright and unique, but I also never dreamed of having 25,000 points,” said Anthony. “It’s cause for celebration because the team has also started to play very well and the only sadness in the injury of our teammate Andre Roberson.”
Anthony, who achieved the mark before the team that let him pass through in the university draw to elect the Serbian center Darko Milicic, with number two and that became one of the biggest fiascos in the history of the NBA, if he received the immediate congratulation through the social networks of James, his friend, who was chosen by the Cavaliers with the number one in the same draw.
“Great 25,000 points got … Congratulations my brother,” wrote James on his Twitter account.
Anthony scored 13,970 points with the Nuggets, 10,186 in the seven seasons he was part of the Knicks and 845 since joining the Oklahoma City franchise last summer.
The coach of the Thunder, Bill Donovan, also congratulated his player and said that reaching that type of brand is something that must always be put in perspective because it is not easy to get it.
“You see 25,000 points, that’s a lot, and scoring every night as he did is really remarkable,” Donovan said at the end of the game. “He has already become one of the best basketball scorers.”
Donovan went beyond the points obtained by Anthony and stressed his great ability to immediately help the new team that has arrived without its main mission to score.
“Reaching a team that will no longer be the first option to score and adapt in order to give what you need, really shows the great professional that is and perhaps has not received all the recognition you deserve for the contribution you have made.” made to the sport of basketball, “said Donovan.
Of the retired players who are ahead on the all-time score list, only Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce are not in the Hall of Fame, mainly because they are not yet eligible for consecration.
Anthony has averages of at least 20 points per game each season of his career, except in the present which has dropped to 17.7 points after having also received fewer minutes of play, which has made his averages in all categories statistics are inferior.
Despite not being the first hitter of the Thunder, with the current average, Anthony at the end of the regular season, if not injured, can overcome the legendary Jerry West (25,192) in the twentieth and the nineteenth to Reggie Miller (25,279) of the list of all times.
West played his entire professional career with the Los Angeles Lakers, but only 14 seasons, from 1960 to 1974, while Miller did with the Indiana Pacers for 18 seasons (1987-2005). efe
