Melo Goes Off for 62 in Win Over Charlotte
Carmelo Anthony scored the Madison Square Garden record 62 points on Friday night in the New York Knicks 125-96 blowout win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Melo was left in the game long enough to break Kobe Bryant’s record of 61 points scored against the Knicks at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Long before Melo broke the record. TV analysts Doug Collins, a former player and coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, journalist Bill Simmons and former player Jalen Rose weighed in on whether he should be left in the game to break the record in a 25 point blowout. Really? This is the NBA. We are worried about hurting pro basketball player’s feelings? Here’s an idea. If the Bobcats don’t want to the record broken on them, play some defense.
The Knicks took Melo out of the game with nearly eight minutes left. That’s fine. If they took him out of the game to rest him up for the next game feeling they had this one in the bag, or if they felt like there’s no need to have their star out there in a game well in hand and risk injury, then by all means take him out. But keep in mind not long ago the Los Angeles Clippers pulled out a win over the Dallas Mavericks in a game the Mavs led by 17 points with under 4:00 to go. So wouldn’t be more insulting to insinuate that an NBA team has no chance of making a comeback with nearly 8:00 to play?
Collins point was that an NBA coach doesn’t want to run it up on another coach for fear one day he will be on the other end of a blowout and that coach may take the opportunity for payback. Again, play defense. With Melo stopping at 62 with 8:00 to play, what if someone else comes along and scores 63 in a tight game that he is in until the final buzzer. Do we put a Roger Maris-type asterisk next to his record? With that much time left, he could have easily gone off for 70 or more.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for sportsmanship. I don’t believe in kicking a field goal on the last play of a blowout in football. I don’t believe in stealing a base late in a blowout in baseball. I don’t believe in scoring at the buzzer of a blowout win in basketball. But taking your star out of a game with that much time left because you don’t want to run it up is a bit ridiculous.
Anthony was 15 of 21 in the first half of the game including a half court buzzer beater to give New York a 21 point halftime lead. He had 56 points by the end of the third quarter but sat out much of the fourth. He started the game with eight points in the first 2:30. He hit eight of ten shots for 20 first quarter points. So maybe there just wasn’t any defense to be played on him after all.
