In his 19-year-long career, Carmelo Anthony averaged 22.5 points. Not only that, he scored over 50 points on four different occasions. He could have breached that mark once more, but the Washington Wizards made sure to deny him that feat. Melo faced the Wizards 40 times in his career and always wanted to perform at his best. Speaking about the game on his podcast, he highlighted why it was important to perform against the D.C. side.

Recalling the game from 16 years ago, his co-host Kid Mero asked him to describe the game while also asking him about the situation where he was pressed full court. Carmelo Anthony was with the Denver Nuggets at the time and said he had to perform because of Gilbert Arenas, “Gil had D.C. rocking like crazy.” Carmelo Anthony ended up scoring 49 points in that game.

He felt the energy from the MCI Center (currently renamed Capital One Arena) was different. Further, he felt that the energy was very similar to MSG, so he had to give back to the crowd. “That moment like all every time I played the Wizards, I always wanted to have a good game ‘cuz I knew n**gas back home was going to be talking sh**. I can’t go back home looking sh**ty…I can’t let them have those side conversations,” Melo added.

With one minute left on the clock, Carmelo Anthony scored his 49th point of the game. The Wizards then successfully converted 4 points and ran the clock down to 11 seconds. In the end with the Nuggets in possession, Andray Blatche and Antawn Jamison double-team pressed Melo. At that point, their goal was not to let the 10x All-Star score his 50th point.

Carmelo Anthony averaged 24.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 40 games versus the Wizards in his career. Melo was an elite 5-level shooting player throughout his career. Even former rivals like Gilbert Arenas had nothing but respect for the Syracuse graduate.

Arenas Crew praises the shooting prowess of Carmelo Anthony

The Crew questioned Agent Zero about Carmelo Anthony’s rank among other scorers to which he stated that the greatest players make the game look easy. Arenas remarked, “When it came to Melo, scoring was easy.” He even stated that guarding Melo was not a one-person job as every player on the team received instructions to guard Anthony.

Kenyon Martin called him “one of the best scorers that this game so far has seen.” Spending time with him in the locker room Martin realized how much hard work Melo put in to perfect his shot. He said, “He (Carmelo Anthony) just perfected that fu**ing jab step, and you got to respect it or he going by you.”

Although Carmelo Anthony failed to hit 50 points that night, he did enough to earn respect, not just from teammates and Kenyon Martin, but also from opponents like Gilbert Arenas as well.

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