After officially signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, 16-year NBA veteran Carmelo Anthony made his debut with his new team Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Just after joining the Trail Blazers, Anthony was in the starting lineup as it was reported he was scheduled to play about 20 minutes or so in his first game. Anthony missed his first shot attempt less than a minute into the game but drained a 3-pointer on the next possession for his first bucket with the Trail Blazers.
Anthony recorded five points in the first quarter on 2-of-4 shooting from the field and even tried his hand at a poster dunk. A few minutes into the second period, Anthony drove the ball to the rim but was met by Jaxson Hayes. The Pelicans rookie quickly slid over to contest the attempt perfectly, rejecting the shot by Anthony.
Melo tried to throw it down on Jaxson Hayes 😅 pic.twitter.com/fmm1JnBp3x
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 20, 2019
Anthony finished with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range in 23 minutes of work as the Trail Blazers lost, 115-104.
Of course, after not playing in the NBA for over a year, Anthony was certainly going to have some rust.
He will need to continue to work on his conditioning but it may not take long for the future Hall of Famer to get his game speed back.
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