For the second time in three games, Portland’s Carmelo Anthony made important plays to help the Trail Blazers stay alive in the Western Conference playoff race. And while LeBron James says he is not personally invested in the race for the 8th seed, the play of Carmelo Anthony did not go unnoticed by LeBron’s teammate Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma, who was watching the game last night between the Blazers and Rockets, said that the ‘they,’ meaning the people in charge of putting teams together, tried to ‘cancel,’ Anthony. Obviously, Anthony was able to return to the league and become a starter for a team with playoff hopes.
They really tried to cancel Melo
— kuz (@kylekuzma) August 5, 2020
In addition to the big 3-pointer, Anthony also had two big defensive plays down the stretch, a steal on James Harden and a block on a corner 3-pointer by PJ Tucker. With the win, Portland is now 1.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the 8th place in the Western Conference. A play-in game will be triggered if the 9th place team is within four games of the 8th place team.
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