Carmelo Anthony Had The Worst Consecutive Scoring Games Of His Career


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Carmelo Anthony has been very good at basketball for a very long time. Anthony famously led Syracuse to a national championship in his only college season before landing as the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA Draft, and the youngster hit the ground running, averaging 21.0 points per game as a rookie for the Denver Nuggets. In fact, the now-33-year-old future Hall of Fame forward has averaged 20-plus points per game in all 14 seasons of his NBA career, even amid some scrutiny about his recent level of performance in his final seasons with the Knicks.

Upon arrival in Oklahoma City this summer, it was widely expected that Anthony would take a step back offensively, if only due to the presence of both Russell Westbrook and Paul George on the same roster. Still, he averaged 19.7 points per game (on 16.7 field goal attempts per game) over his first 19 contests with the Thunder and Anthony wasn’t exactly yearning for offensive opportunities.

In the same breath, though, the Thunder have really struggled at times, including a losing spell that included five defeats in six games before a recent win over the Timberwolves broke that drought. In that particular game, Anthony scored only nine points and, while that was not necessarily a crazy hiccup, he followed that up by scoring exactly nine points again in a win over the Spurs on Sunday evening.

That two-game stretch marked the first time in Anthony’s career in which he failed to crack double figures in back-to-back outings, according to the good folks at ESPN.

In some ways, it should not be a surprise that Anthony slipped up in this regard, simply because the circumstances in Oklahoma City are far different than at any time in his storied career. However, the wild part comes when you consider that the Thunder won both games and, even if that sample isn’t exactly significant in terms of overall takeaways, it could conceivably lead to a more limited role for Anthony in the near future.

Anthony famously scoffed (and even laughed) at the notion of coming off the bench with the Thunder and a move like that does not appear imminent. With that said, Anthony made a bit of personal history while the Thunder racked up two victories and that could present a bit of foreshadowing toward the way the team needs him play, including a full-blown return of Olympic Melo. Only time will tell.

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