Carmelo Anthony of the Oklahoma City Thunder is regarded as one of the best offensive talents ever to grace the NBA. Yet this year, specifically in the playoffs, Anthony has shown no signs whatsoever of his offensive skill set.
As observed by Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype, Anthony is shooting at an atrocious mark on open 3-pointers. Advanced statistics culled from the NBA reveal that the Thunder forward is shooting just 27.3 percent from the 3-point distance despite having a defender away from him by six or more feet. He is second worst in the team, next to Jerami Grant who is shooting at zero percent.
When he has his defenders four to six feet away, Anthony is shooting at 23.1 percent from downtown — second-worst in the team next to Russell Westbrook who's shooting at a horrific 14.3 percent
Perhaps this is the main reason why the Thunder are down 3-1 against the Utah Jazz. Anthony, Westbrook, and Paul George are touted as the Big Three in Oklahoma. Yet they haven't performed to par. They are being outmatched by the Jazz, who have no big names on their roster.
They have a rookie named Donovan Mitchell and several supporting players including Rudy Gobert. Other than that, the Thunder are the better team on paper.
After their loss, which puts them in a 3-1 deficit, Anthony said that the Thunder just have to win. As reported by Moke Hamilton of Thunder Wire:
“We can sit here and say what we gotta do and what we didn’t do and what we did do, but it comes down to having the will to win that game on Wednesday and forcing a Game 6 back here in Utah.”
Hopefully, his words are not just empty promises.
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