Portland Trail Blazers: 4 players who have stepped up in NBA restart

3. Carmelo Anthony

Before we delve into how well Carmelo Anthony has been playing as of late, it is worth noting that he was all but an afterthought following his departure from the Houston Rockets, a stint that lasted all of 10 games. But as he was contemplating retirement, he and the Trail Blazers agreed on a one-year deal.

While Melo had been a steady contributor for the Trail Blazers before the restart, that trend has continued in the bubble. Of the team’s first seven seeding games, Anthony has scored at least 20 points in four of those outings. This includes topping that threshold in each of the last three outings.

One of Anthony’s best outings came against the Grizzlies, no less, in the first game of the team’s restart. In that contest, Anthony scored 21 points on 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-4 from long range. His best performance (thus far) occurred in a recent win against the Dallas Mavericks. He finished the game with 26 points and eight rebounds while knocking down 10 of his 17 attempts from the field.

Not only has Anthony proven to be a valuable pickup for the Trail Blazers this season, but he’s also showing that he may have one or two productive years left, thus silencing the critics who were ready the close the book on the future Hall-of-Famer’s NBA career.