Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony returns to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night to face the New York Knicks.
Anthony's impact in New York has been long felt, and with those around the league watching, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell took to Twitter to attempt to keep the peace with Knicks fans.
Melo back in the garden tonight 👀👀 New York please don’t boo him lol
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) January 1, 2020
The vast majority of Knicks fans have seemingly embraced Carmelo Anthony whenever he returns to the Garden since his departure. However, New York is notorious for its boisterous fan base, which apparently has Mitchell worried.
For fan bases of a certain age, Anthony and the Knicks are intrinsically intertwined.
The New York native spent seven seasons with the Knicks from 2010-17, having been named an All-Star each season that he was with the franchise. A six-time All-NBA selection, Anthony led the league in scoring (2012-13) and minutes (2013-14) once during his tenure. Across 412 games in the orange and blue, he averaged 24.7 points per game, having cemented himself as one of the best scorers of his generation.
Since his departure from New York just prior to the start of the 2017-18 campaign, Anthony has now appeared for three separate organizations. At 15.7 points per game since joining the Portland Trail Blazers, Anthony has seen something resembling a career revival.
Despite his time with the Knicks, there is no franchise in the league that the 35-year-old Anthony has had better success against offensively in his career. At 27.8 points per game in head-to-head matchups, the former Knick has always stepped up against his hometown team — bringing joy to Donovan Mitchell and similarly-aged hoops fans alike.
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