Bullet Points: Melo Erupts for 37 Points, Spoils Wizards' Home Opener

By Mark Bacon

• New Washington Wizard forward Jared Dudley stated during a radio interview in May that Carmelo Anthony was the most overrated player in the NBA; he hasn’t carried franchises to playoff success like other stars. Later Dudley apologized for the comment; Melo didn’t care.

• “It got back to me,” Anthony said. “It definitely got back to me. I might not look at it and read all that stuff but it gets back to me.” 

• Five months later, Anthony got revenge. The 10-time all-star was an unstoppable force in his New York Knicks’ 117-110 win over the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center. Anthony scored 37 points on 11 of 18 shooting. He scored from anywhere and everywhere, foiling various defensive strategies to slow him down.

• Bradley Beal scored 26 and John Wall had 25 but Carmelo Anthony stole the show as the Knicks outlasted the Wizards 117-110 and spoiled Washington’s home opener.

• In back to back nights, the Wizards got to the line 20 times in the first half, this time knocking down 15. Many of these free throw attempts were from their up-tempo speed with Wall and Sessions drawing contact in transition. The Wizards went 26-32 from the stripe for the game; an efficient 81 percent.

• The Knicks bench outplayed the Wiz bench. The Knicks bench outscored the Wizards' 50-32 and opted to keep some of their reserves in down the stretch. Drew Gooden and Nene combined for 19 points but were awful on the defensive end. Nene fouled out in just 18 minutes;  Gooden was often gambling for steals that weren't there.

• The Wizards defense still is very much a work in progress. The Wizards gave up 117 points tonight after giving up 113 the night before.  That's simply bad. What has happened to the Wiz’s top-5 defense from last year? Carmelo Anthony torched them. Neither Porter nor Dudley had an answer for him tonight. It was very surprising that the Wizards did not double team Anthony and force other players to beat them.

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