NBA scores 2016: Carmelo Anthony won a game for the Knicks, which is still great fun to watch

Carmelo had it all happening on Friday, and that’s still one of the best shows in the NBA when it happens.

Nov 26, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

When Carmelo Anthony has it going, you always know. “The Zone” usually starts with a jumper that has a trajectory so gentle it barely moves the net. Anthony will take another shot on the next possession with only the briefest second of hesitation, and then he’ll score again the next trip down. He’s a born scorer, and this is just how it works

The Zone started for Anthony from the moment the Knicks’ game started on Friday. He scored 16 in the first quarter, cycling through that same progression of shots that he always does. He ended the quarter by grabbing a loose ball, launching it on a high arc towards the sky and watching it go in as the buzzer sounded.

Anthony had a chance to win the game in regulation. The shot nearly went in off the glass, skittering around the rim a few times before falling off. But overtime gave Anthony a chance for redemption, and he gladly took it. This shot gave the Knicks a 113-111 win against the Charlotte Hornets.

Melo's game winner for the #Knicks! pic.twitter.com/wz8Oyc7XR5
— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2016

Yet even in the replies of that tweet from the NBA, you can find a debate about how good Anthony really is. This is nothing new, of course — Anthony may be the most polarizing superstar of our generation. He doesn’t draw vitriol like LeBron James, but how talented he really is has never been clearly agreed upon.

The crux of the argument is simple: if Anthony is so good, why doesn’t he make his teams better? And we know Anthony is incredible — he has averaged nearly 25 points in his career and is quickly approaching 23,000 points. At 32 years old, he’ll almost certainly be the 21st player to score 25,000 points, and then it’s only further on and higher up from there. (He could be the 22nd only if Vince Carter beats him there. Carter, at age 39, needs about 900.)

Anthony is one of the most effortless scorers the NBA has ever seen. Critics will point to his defense, which has never been great. In the highlights of his game, you can see some incredible passes he made Friday — two gorgeous pocket passes out of the pick-and-roll plus one excellent cross-court fling to Kristaps Porzingis after being double-teamed. But you can also see Anthony ignore an open Porzingis on the final play of regulation, too. He disregards (or has such tunnel vision that he doesn’t even see) Courtney Lee forgotten by the defense at the top of the key, too.

Those criticisms exist for Anthony even in a game where he scores 35 points on 14-of-25 shooting with 14 rebounds and five assists. They’re amplified in games where he only makes 20 or 30 percent of his attempts, while still firing them away without conscience. You can’t deny Anthony’s talent, but it’s fair to wonder how well it has even been suited for a winning brand of NBA basketball, if New York’s win on Friday moved them just a game above .500 despite the Knicks saying this is as talented as they’ve been in years.

As we debate Anthony’s various merits, with the truth probably lying somewhere in the middle, it’s important not to brush past one thing that makes him so remarkable. It’s that when Carmelo does reach The Zone, it’s so much fun. If you didn’t click play on the highlights of his 35 points above, reconsider that. Scroll back up. Click here! Watching Anthony pop jumpers over an outmatched defender is one of basketball’s beautiful sights, even if we all know his mid-post isolations may not be the healthiest answer for everything that ails New York basketball.

Anthony may have been overrated for a long time, but it feels the tables have flipped. As he toils away with the Knicks struggling for a playoff push every year, it’s easy to focus on other, fresher teams. But Anthony is still one of the best in this generation, and when he hits that Zone ... hooooo boy. You just better be watching.

A post-turkey frenzy

All 30 teams played on the day after Thanksgiving. We are thankful for that. Here’s a quick rundown.

The Thunder scored 132 points in a game, while the Hawks only managed 68. That’s the highest and lowest points scored on Friday, and thankfully they didn’t play each other.
Russell Westbrook led the evening in two stats: points, with 36, and assists, with 18. (He added 12 rebounds for a ridiculous triple-double, giving him 43 for his career in the regular season.)
The rebound high for the evening was only 17, from Nikola Vucevic. Two players had five steals, but four blocked five shots.
Nine games were decided by double figures, including five by 20 or more points. Two went to overtime.
All 30 teams won a game, or perhaps they lost it. In all likelihood, it was one of those two options. Like, I’m pretty sure about this one, but don’t quote me.

The Rockets now hold a record that will be re-broken soon

Congratulation to the Rockets, who shot 50 three-pointers on Friday. That’s an NBA record.

It won’t be their record forever. In fact, it may be broken this year. Along with almost every record involving the three-point line, the NBA is coming for it. It may be this week, month or year, but some NBA team will shoot 51 or 52 or 53 before long. As we live in the golden age of three-point shooting, that’s just the growing reality every team faces.

You can’t blame the Rockets! They made 21 of their 50 attempts, three shy of the NBA record for made threes. Houston took it to the Kings by bombing away with unparalleled volume, and the result was a 117-104 win. If it’s a winning strategy, they’ll keep doing it, too.

Stephen Curry has already started rewriting some of these records, like made threes in a season and a game. But soon, all the others will fall, and maybe Curry’s own records will be re-broken. The NBA has been breaking the record for total number of threes taken in the league year after year.