these are starting to pile up: http://www.nba.com/article/2018/04/26/carmelo-anthony-last-stand-oklahoma-city-thunder Carmelo Anthony's playoff vantage point unlike one he's ever had before Series proving future Hall of Famer's role has declined from glory days Shaun Powell @Powell2daPeopleArchive Apr 26, 2018 6:54 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY -- Sunsets aren’t always golden and glorious. In the case of most professional athletes, they can be downright grim. They are a prelude to darkness and the bitter end, coming without regard to stats, status and what-you-used-to-be. The proud ones battle and fight and ignore the obvious signs anyway, and often, in the case of Carmelo Anthony, they’re stuck in a temporary case of denial. This was in full view in the second half of Game 5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Utah Jazz series. That's when Anthony was benched with the season on the line, which has happened, like, never before in his basketball life. As the Thunder rallied fiercely, historically actually, with Russell Westbrook and Paul George — two-thirds of the OKC big Three — rescuing OKC from a 25-point crater, Carmelo looked up the bench from his seat, stared toward coach Billy Donovan, waiting for a signal that never came. Sometimes in these situations, while the coach is busy studying the floor, the lead assistant coach is the point man for substitutions. In OKC, such respect is given to Maurice Cheeks -- the freshly-appointed basketball Hall of Famer. Anthony turned to Cheeks. Cheeks turned the other cheek. And so, the pride and ego of a 10-time All-Star and one of the most dangerous scorers of the last two decades surfaced and erupted. Melo took his frustrations out on Cheeks, raising his voice, demanding to be inserted into a game that had already flipped drastically in OKC’s favor without him. It was a bad look, an uncomfortable one for a player who, despite his own Hall-worthy credentials, managed to force-feed the reputation he carried to OKC last summer, fair or not. 'Melo appeared selfish, worried about his role and his minutes and his contributions instead of conceding that, at least in this game, he was better off being a spectator. Until that point, Melo’s benching wasn’t a surprise. He’d missed four out of his six shots and even worse was getting burned defensively: Joe Ingles and especially Jae Crowder buried OKC from deep. So, Melo was yanked in the third quarter and sat all but the final few minutes of the fourth, once the comeback was complete. The OKC locker room after Game 5 was a mixture of relief and enthusiasm. Relief from salvaging an embarrassing first half. And enthusiasm that was packed in suitcases and taken on their flight here for Game 6. Meanwhile, tucked in a corner of the room was Anthony, sitting silently as the locker room emptied, finally dressing and rising to his feet well over an hour after the buzzer. more at the link
The Lord will humble you quickly. I remember when a reporter asked him something and he hollered at someone saying they think I'm coming off the bench.
Any many of you thought he was the missing piece. Anderson's albatross of a contract is still better than this waste of space.
He was. The piece that exposed the players (or non-team in terms of how they play together) on the team for what they were.
