Carmelo Anthony: I Stayed Motivated

Western Conference player of the week Carmelo Anthony was kept quiet by the Los Angeles Clippers defense on Tuesday night.

However, that didn’t stop his fellow professionals paying tribute to him after what was a challenging few months.

Carmelo Anthony was limited to just 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting and six rebounds against the Clippers. It was his lowest total over his first seven games back in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers. 

His former Thunder teammate, Paul George finished with 25 points in the 117 – 97 win for the Clippers. George called out the recent criticism of Carmelo Anthony, who had been without a team for a year, after the game.

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“I’m not going to be happy with [the criticism], with how they tried to shoot him down when he first started,” George said. 

“I am not going to be happy now that he’s playing well and they want to be on his side. He is going to have a long season. Let him play. Let him hoop.

“Say what you want when he’s finished, but let him hoop. It’s great that he’s getting that recognition now. When it is all said and done — people, let him play and let him hoop. It’s tough regardless when he came back; he had been out over a year, so there’s going to be some ups and downs. But let Melo hoop.”

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Anthony’s reputation suffered in October when a Houston Rockets source was quoted saying ‘he just can’t play NBA defense anymore’. 

Melo never gave up, though. The 35-year-old, ten-time All Star was thankful for the recognition from his fellow pros, although he said he tries not to pay too much attention to the chatter.

“It means a lot,” Anthony said. 

“But also, the real ones know what’s going on. It’s not them. I never had issues with any of my colleagues saying anything about me. It’s the narratives that surround the game of basketball, the opinions that everybody has. All of these cameras have their opinion.

“So it’s those things that come into play, which can easily allow somebody to get down on themselves and want to give up and want to not be motivated. I was against all of that, I stayed with it, I stayed motivated. I pushed myself.”