Carmelo Anthony Went Off For 25 Points As The Blazers Routed The Bulls

The Portland Trail Blazers have not gotten off to the start to the season they wanted at 5-12 and have been searching for answers to their issues with roster construction around Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

The center rotation is a problem with Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic out with injuries, as is their rotating door of wing options that have struggled to replace Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu. To help there, the Blazers turned to Carmelo Anthony, giving the former 10-time All-Star one more chance at an NBA roster to write a better final chapter to his career.

His first three games were, as expected, a bit rough. He showed flashes of what he can bring offensively, but many of the same questions about efficiency and defense remained from his time in OKC and Houston. On Monday night, however, Melo found his groove in Chicago against a fellow disappointing squad, lighting up the Bulls for 25 points to go along with eight rebounds in, by far, his best NBA game in over a year as the Blazers beat the Bulls 117-94.

Anthony hit 10-of-20 shots from the field, including 4-of-7 from three, his best night from beyond the arc, as he led Portland in scoring.

The highlight of the night, however, was Anthony spinning baseline and then putting Wendell Carter Jr. on a poster with a two-handed flush that not many thought Carmelo still had in his bag.

Whether Anthony can sustain this kind of play — maybe not on volume, but at least in being a plus-shooter for a team that desperately needs it — remains to be seen, but it was nice to see him have this kind of night. His performance pushed him past Alex English into 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and his wife LaLa was behind the bench, FaceTiming his game to their son Kiyan.

https://twitter.com/_MarcusD3_/status/1199162907772248064