Anthony calls shooting slump ‘probably the roughest’ of his career
MEXICO CITY — Carmelo Anthony spun left, and the baseline was his.
Late in the first quarter of what would turn into a 100-95 Thunder loss to the Nets, Anthony put a wicked spin move on Brooklyn guard Caris LeVert and rose up for what looked like an easy two-handed slam.
Jarrett Allen had other ideas. The rookie center came from the weak side to stuff Anthony’s attempt and give Brooklyn the ball.
Even the plays that looked easy were hard Thursday. It’s been that way lately for Anthony.
Playing at high altitude at Arena de Ciudad de Mexico didn’t help in his 5-for-20 performance. But Anthony saw his issues as bigger than that.
“For me, I think these past three, four games offensively has been the toughest stretch for me, as far as scoring the basketball, making shots,” Anthony said. “I don’t think it had anything to with the altitude for the most part. I think it’s just, for me, this is a rough stretch for myself personally. Probably the roughest that I’ve had throughout my career.”
In the Thunder’s past three games, Anthony is 15 of 49 from the floor. That’s 30.6 percent. Over the past four games, Anthony is 2 for 17 from
3-point range.
It’s not the worst stretch of his career, but it’s in the running. Anthony shot 11 for 46 during one threegame run with Denver in 2011.
Basketball-Reference. com indicates he’s had two streaks of three consecutive games under 31 percent. One of those came in 2013, when Anthony had a three-game injury absence between the first and second games of the streak.
His current struggles might have something to do with the shots he’s getting.
Though the midrange jumper is out of fashion in the modern NBA, Anthony can make it. Even in the midst of a shooting slump, he’s 9 for 19 over the past three games on shots from 10 to 19 feet.
But Anthony, whose specialty for this Thunder team should be stretching the floor with his 3-point shooting, is 2 for 18 on shots deeper than 19 feet over the past three games.
It hasn’t been all bad for Anthony. During his current three-game shooting slump, he’s averaging 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, higher than his season averages of 6.5 and 1.7, respectively.
“I think a guy like Carmelo, just his poise, his composure and his vision and view of the game, he takes a lot of pride in the fact that he can help other players,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said after Tuesday’s win against the Jazz.
“He can help Russell (Westbrook), he can help Paul (George), he can help Steven (Adams). And he does a really, really good job in that.”
But Anthony is known — and sees himself, first and foremost — as a scorer.
And in that regard, he isn’t just in a rough patch. He’s having a difficult season. Anthony is shooting 40.6 percent from the floor, which would be a career low. He’s hitting 33.8 percent of his 3-point shots, which would be ranked in the middle of his 3-point shooting seasons but is his worst mark since 2012.
“You got to continue playing,” Anthony said. “You got to continue taking the shots that you normally take, that you know you can make, just being confident with that. Don’t let the missed shots and the inefficiency on the offensive end for myself as an individual affect you moving forward.”