Carmelo Anthony traded in All-Star appearances, having the ball in hands a large percentage of the time and his scoring for the chance to play in the playoffs again. His dream will be realized on Sunday.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will play the Utah Jazz at home on Sunday in their first game in the 2018 NBA Playoffs. The Thunder were able to get to the 4-seed at the last second and now for Carmelo Anthony, his sacrifices are paying off.
The last time Carmelo played in the playoffs was in 2013 when he was a member of the New York Knicks.
The Knicks were the 2-seed and opened up against the Boston Celtics. They were able to win the first three games before eventually advancing in Game 6. In the next round they faced the 3-seeded Indiana Pacers. The Pacers were able to win the series in six games and the Knicks were eliminated.
During those playoffs, Carmelo averaged 28.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. The next three years were early exits for the Knicks and they did not sniff the playoffs once.
Before the 2017-18 season the Knicks finally decided to move on from the Carmelo Anthony era and traded him after he waived his no-trade clause to come to the OKC Thunder.
For Anthony, this season has come with a lot of headaches and a lot of figuring out how to survive playing alongside two other superstars. Anthony was even suffering from a shooting slump after the Thunder put him in a requested role that would better serve him and put him under less pressure to produce.
Carmelo’s best game this season was a 29-point game against the Cleveland Cavaliers where the Thunder dominated and scored 148 points.
Carmelo is looking forward to not “planning vacations” and playing basketball in mid to late April. Possibly beyond.
"“It feels good, man, kind of just to be back in that postseason mindset,†Anthony said. “Looking forward to not planning vacations. Even though I would love to be with my family, I think they understand that this is very important.â€"
For the Thunder, a first round win means possibly meeting the team that knocked them out last year in the Houston Rockets.
The Thunder have two wins to the Rockets’ one in the season series this year. In those two games Anthony has eclipsed 20 points in both games.
Anthony is a 14-year vet in the NBA. He had played in the playoffs 10 straight years before having the three-year hiatus with the Knicks. After his rookie season, he had eight straight years where he averaged 20 points or more, including a 30.7 points per game playoff run where he only played six games in the first round.
If the Thunder are to go far in the playoffs, they will need Anthony to make big shots and to play as well as he has his whole career.
The Thunder’s core has tons of playoff experience and Anthony leads the team with 10 seasons of playoff appearances.
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Carmelo Anthony has been kept in check all season, but now that rotations are tighter and the main players will be getting big minutes, this is a chance for Anthony to display his talents on a bigger stage.