Getty Los Angeles Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony.
Carmelo Anthony may no longer be the perennial All-Star type talent that he was earlier in his career. Still, he’s silenced more than his share of arenas over his illustrious career.
As one of the decade’s most prolific closers, the Brooklyn native has knocked down 26 game-winning field goals in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime — that’s even more than the late-great Kobe Bryant mustered up over his legendary run, via Yahoo.
Yet, what if Anthony had his choice of any area across the NBA landscape to silence? During a recent appearance on the All the Smoke podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, the hosts posed Anthony this exact question. His response? TD Garden, thanks in large part to the “vicious” Boston Celtics fanbase.
“Boston,” Anthony said without skipping a beat. “Boston is just, they vicious out there. They don’t give a f*** out there in Boston.”
If not Boston, then Utah is a close runner-up for Anthony. “Utah is second. If I can silence Utah, I’ma silence they a**,” he noted. “Utah is a place, you want to dagger. You want to dagger. Just talk your talk out there in Utah.”
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Anthony Talks Joining Lakers
If Anthony thrives on silencing the Celtics faithful, he came to the right place to try and do so. After two productive seasons in Portland, the future NBA Hall of Famer inked a one-year contract with the C’s vaunted rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, during free agency.
“I try to think about it, I try to process it, I know what it means to wear purple and gold just from the history of the game and just following and competing against it and really understanding the true essence of what it means to be a Laker,” Anthony told Spectrum Sportsnet. “But never have I thought that I would be wearing purple and gold. Especially at this point in time of my career, but hey, everything happens for a reason, and I believe that.”
Anthony, 37, has averaged 14.3 points per game since 2019. He’s also extended his range over the last few seasons, knocking down 39.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc over his Trail Blazers tenure — the best mark across any of his five NBA stops.
Anthony & Lakers Travel to Boston Twice Before Christmas Day
The Celtics’ 2021-22 schedule is out and there are more than a few key dates to mark on your calendar. From tipping off the season with a matchup against the New York Knicks and the recently departed Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, to two bouts with the Lakers over the team’s first 25 games.
Anthony’s first opportunity to stick it to Bostonians will be during a November 19th matchup at TD Garden. The Celtics will then welcome the Lakers back into town shortly after, meeting again on December 7th.
Later that month, the Celtics will travel to Milwaukee to play the defending champion Bucks on December 25th, Boston’s sixth-consecutive Christmas day game.
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Lakers’ Carmelo Anthony Sounds Off on ‘Vicious’ Celtics Fans