Blazers head coach Terry Stotts continued to invest heavily in the Carmelo Anthony experiment yesterday. He tapped the future Hall of Famer to start anew, the mixed results from the latter’s previous three games notwithstanding. For all the warning signs the advanced stats from the outings — all losses, not coincidentally — gave, he remained upbeat on the potential of the early-season pickup to contribute to the cause. He reasoned out that talent and fit augured well for the future of the partnership, and that some time was allowed for it to blossom.
Stotts’ investment wound up paying dividends yesterday, and how. Against the Bulls on the road, the Blazers snapped a losing run that stretched to a match before Anthony was inked to a non-guaranteed deal. And, in so doing, they found themselves relying on their new acquisition the most. He certainly put up gaudy numbers reminiscent of his All-Star days, going for 25 points (on 10-of-20 shooting from the field), eight rebounds, and two assists against three fouls and two turnovers. Tellingly, he had a robust plus-19 rating in the 31 minutes he burned rubber.
Incidentally, Anthony wound up as the high scorer yesterday. It didn’t matter that he was just in his fourth set-to since being sidelined for a year, and that, more importantly, he had prolific pointmakers Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum by his side. He took 50% and 20% more shots than the two, respectively, as good an indication as any that Stotts’ isolation-heavy system appealed to his predilections. And, to his credit, he made hay while the sun shone; he even got to can four of his seven attempts from three-point territory.
To be sure, the Blazers carved the win against the lowly Bulls, whose supposed advantages at the United Center failed to negate intrinsic frailties. The real tests will come next week against the powerhouse Clippers and Lakers. In the meantime, they can bask in the confidence generated by the stride they made and try to pounce on the opportunity to claim momentum. Up next are homestands versus the Thunder and, yes, the Bulls. They have a chance to get something going, and if Anthony truly wants to be part of their turnaround, he would do well to stay productive while understanding that the help he can give doesn’t necessarily have to be seen in the box scores.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
