Carmelo Anthony’s tenure with the New York Knicks rarely gets the recognition it should. Going down as one of the purest scorers in NBA history, Melo knew how to get buckets. Moreover, he brought life back into MSG when the team had been struggling for nearly a decade.
On an episode of Podcast P with Paul George, Carmelo Anthony talked about the things that led to his 62-point game night. And the surprising inspiration behind him dropping a career-high on Michael Jordan’s Bobcats was not anyone from basketball, but the great Muhammad Ali himself.
“We used to have this guy who used to come to our team and talk to us…He was somebody who came in and helped us out, made sure our mental was right…He sent me a Muhammad Ali tape, like a motivational tape…I’m watching that sh*t all day.”
Anthony mentioned obsessively watching that tape day and night. Whether it be in the car going back home or coming to practice. He even had that video on repeat while suiting up in the team’s locker room.
“All day I’m watching the same sh*t and I look over to Shump (Imam Shumpert.) before the game. I said, ‘Yo. Follow my lead today…Yo, it’s on today.’”
The Knicks were 43 games into the 2013-14 season and had a horrendous 16-27 record going into the game against Charlotte. Despite having an All-Star on the roster, the team was struggling to win games. And The Big Apple was letting their star player have a piece of their mind.
But that night, Carmelo went off for a career-high. He helped the Knicks overcome the Bobcats with a 125-96 final score. His stat sheet had 62 points paired with 13 rebounds, no turnovers, and just one personal foul.
Melo shot an extremely efficient 65.7% from the field that night, going 23-35. He truly was in the zone as he connected for more than half of his shots from beyond the arc as well, going 6-11, shooting 54.5% from long range.
The Knicks went from a five-game losing streak to stringing together four straight wins, on the back of his heroics. And the way Melo got those 62 points was a display of high skill and court craft.
Anthony may go down as one of the greatest to never win an NBA championship. Currently, at the ninth spot on the all-time scoring list with 28,289 career points, Melo had perfected a set of moves that often helped him score almost at will.
Carmelo reveals his three go-to moves
On an episode of 7 PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony, he was asked to give his three go-to moves when he was either in a tight spot or just wanted an easy two points.
“Baseline fade on the left block. Fading baseline, like, left shoulder fade, I would say that. Hesi-pull and I would say, my one dribble pull-up. My jab one dribble pull-up. The hesi-pull, the jab one dribble pull-up, left or right, and then, fade left shoulder.”
Melo not only gave fans his top three moves but also went a step further and gave them in his order of favorites as well.
Those who have been lucky enough to witness Carmelo in action know how deadly he was with that jab one dribble pull-up. Melo would receive the ball in the low or high post and turn around into a triple-threat stance.
From there, the defender was in his world. Anthony would simply go to work on his opponents with just pump fakes and jab steps. And as overused as this move by was Carmelo, defenders always ended up biting on either the pump fake or the jab step, giving him that window to get his shot up every time.
