For the first time since the 1984-85 NBA season, a New York Knick has won the league’s scoring title. When Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant decided to sit out Wednesday’s regular season finale, it cemented New York’s Carmelo Anthony as this year’s scoring champion.
Durant would’ve needed 70 points in his final game to surpass Anthony, as he was behind by 0.6 PPG. In the month of April, ‘Melo dominated, averaging 36.9 PPG to raise his season total to 28.7.
‘Melo going head to head with KD earlier in the season. Credit: gamedayr.com
Although winning the league’s scoring title isn’t as big of an honor as it used to be, it still is a great way to honor a phenomenal and well-deserved season in which Carmelo did it all for the Knicks, leading them to their 2nd place finish in the NBA’s Eastern Conference behind only the Miami Heat.
And, in my opinion, it’s great to see someone like ‘Melo win a prestigious award. Frankly, his career deserves some recognition.
Although he hasn’t been able to do much in the playoffs, Carmelo has put together an elite career that is far from over. For the Nuggets and Knicks, he’s averaged 25.0 PPG over his ten-year career, a number that should continue to grow considering the more consistent play we’ve seen from him in the second half of his career thus far.
In fact, with almost 18,000 points to his name already, he could very well finish as one of the top twenty or-so scorers in NBA history, passing names that are already or will soon be in the basketball hall of fame.
Although we may take someone like Carmelo Anthony for granted in the LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant age, we should realize that he too will go down as one of the NBA’s best offensive forces of all-time.
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