Savor LeBron versus Melo moments while we can
Savor and enjoy are not words associated with 2020 unless you scan for the tiny but essential rays of light shining through the cracks of a fractured year.
Watching the Lakers’ LeBron James and Portland’s Carmelo Anthony in the playoffs go back and forth in their 17th year in the NBA – perhaps not the twilight but the late afternoon of their Hall of Fame careers – is something to appreciate.
Not only are their careers linked, their lives are linked. Competitors and
close friends, James and Anthony share a two-decades-long relationship that started as baby-faced high schoolers and has continued through ups and downs on the court and marriage and children and business ventures off the court.
“It’s always special. I can’t even lie, it’s always special to be on the floor with a brother of mine,” James said earlier this season after Portland signed Anthony. “We got so much history. We’ve competed against each other since 2001 when it all started. In Colorado Springs, at the Junior Olympics.
“We’ve been competing for a long time, we’ve been on the same team with the Olympics. That’s my brother, man. It’s always great to be able to compete and just be on the same floor, period. No matter if it’s, like I said with Team USA, when we’re teammates or just competing on our respective clubs.”
They are competing now in the postseason for just the second time, and possibly the last. While still performing at an All-NBA first-team level, James is 35, and Anthony, 36, didn’t play an NBA game for more than a year until the Trail Blazers signed him in November.
Who knows if Anthony would have joined a team this season had injuries not prompted Portland to make a move.
“I think everyone had doubt,” James said. “Including himself, probably. I mean, as the time goes on and on and on, you see yourself getting further and further away from it. But I always hoped that he would get an opportunity. His name was brought up with us last year, and I hoped that opportunity presented itself as well when we had our injuries.
“I was hoping he was going to be a part of (what we have) here and it didn’t happen for whatever reason. But I’m happy that he has an opportunity to go
back and play the game that he loves to play and do it at this level.”
Written off, Anthony proved this season he can still contribute.
“It goes beyond just leadership,” Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters before the team left for Orlando, Florida. “I think the way he conducts himself as a person, just creates a lot of respect in the locker room.”
Anthony secured Portland’s Game 1 victory with a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter. In Games 2 and 3, James has pushed and pulled the Lakers to victories, including a 38-point, 12-rebound, eight-assist performance in Los Angeles’ Game 3 win Saturday.
They have been matched up on both ends of the court. There was a stretch of the third quarter in Saturday’s game when it was Anthony and James going back and forth. With Anthony guarding him, James hit a 3-pointer to open the quarter, and on the next possession, Anthony hit a 3-pointer. It went like that for half a quarter with James scoring nine points and Anthony 13.
Anthony tried not to get too philosophical about playing against James.
“I don’t look at it that deeply,” Anthony
said. “It’s just another opportunity for me. We’ve had our times, our battles. The positive thing on all of this is that we’re able to do that or compete at this level against each other in Year 17. That’s how I look at this. Being able to go out this late in our career, Year 17, knowing the history that we have on the court, off the court. That’s the fun part (for) me.”
They entered the league together in 2003. James, straight from high school, was the No. 1 overall pick and Anthony, after leading Syracuse to a national championship, was No. 3. James earned rookie of the year in 2003-04, and Anthony finished second in the voting.
James has won four MVPs, three championships, three Finals MVPs, is No. 3 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and is considered one of the greatest players in history.
Anthony is a 10-time All-Star, sixtime All-NBA performer, one-time scoring champ and No. 15 on the league’s alltime scoring list. In his prime and in flashes today, Anthony can score.
Earlier this season, James recalled a high school game against Anthony in 2002 – James’ St. Vincent-St. Mary against Anthony’s Oak Hill Academy. In that game, James wore a pair of sneakers a size too small – Kobe Bryant had given them to him the day before – and scored 36 points. Anthony had 34, helping Oak Hill to a 72-66 victory.
Ultimately, it was not one of many games the two have played against each other. Because they spent a good portion of their careers in opposite conferences, they have played against each other in the NBA just 43 times, including the playoffs.
USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley remembers James and Anthony at that 2001 event in Colorado Springs. “We called (it) the youth development festival then,” he said. “LeBron really stood out, and I remember ’Melo because he also ended up playing on one of our teams the following year in Venezuela.”
It was the beginning of a fruitful relationship with USA Basketball, too. They both played on the 2004 Olympic team that disappointingly won bronze. But they both came back in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics to win gold for the U.S., and Anthony won another gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.
“Their friendship is genuine,” Tooley said. “I have high regard for both of them. Sometimes people get put together because of timing, but they’re legitimate friends.”
James said when they are together – a group that also includes Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade – they rarely talk basketball. The friends even have a nickname, the Banana Boat Crew, after three of the four were once spotted on a banana-looking watercraft in the Bahamas. Anthony says James even saved him from drowning on a vacation.
“We talk about family and friends and trips we can take in the offseason and wine we’re going to drink and cigars we’re going to smoke. Stuff like that,” James said. “We don’t really talk about basketball too much at all, really. Even when we train, we’re just pushing each other to get better. But we don’t really talk about the game too much.”