This season, Carmelo Anthony has the second-highest defensive rebounds per 36 minutes mark of his career. According to Basketball-Reference, Melo grabs 5.8 rebounds per 36 minutes, which are 5.2 boards in 32.6 minutes per game. This is also his third-highest defensive rebounds percentage of his career, grabbing 18.6 percent of available defensive rebounds when he is on the court. He has got these accolades even while playing alongside Steven Adams, an expert rebounder, and Russell Westbrook, arguably the best rebounding point guard in the NBA. In a video courtesy of Fred Katz, Anthony was recently asked about his defensive rebounding. The 15-year veteran said:
“At this point of the season, I think it is more of a focus and emphasis to get in there, rebound the basketball. Plus, I hate to look at film, and then coaches getting on me about not rebounding the basketball. So I think that's more of the reason why I'm attacking the glass like I am.”
His teammates give him extra motivation, as Carmelo said they constantly bug him about getting those defensive rebounds:
“My teammates are like, ‘Melo, come on, you gotta get that rebound' or ‘You had two rebounds, three rebounds. It's just not acceptable.”
The 10-time All-Star was then asked if not wanting to get embarrassed when looking at the film has always been a motivation for him. He responded:
“Absolutely! Absolutely, the next day after a game you do not want to be on that film session. For saying that you made a bad play, you didn't rebound the basketball. Even though it's all laugh and jokes, but at the end of the day it's, I mean, you gotta hold yourself accountable for that. I just don't like looking at that.”
This type of motivation seems to work well for Anthony. And if this is what will help him to keep playing at a high level and help him take OKC farther into the NBA playoffs, he should not stop doing it.
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