As recently as two years ago, Anthony “The Tollbooth” Tolliver was a really solid role-player for Detroit. He was hitting tons of threes at a 43 percent clip, making him one of the most efficient players in the league that season. He played the most minutes of his career. His best year as a pro? Yeah, we’re going there.
Something happened between then and now, because he’s kinda cruddy these days. Not as cruddy as his first stint with Portland back during the 2009-10 season (4 minutes played over 2 games, 0-for-1 from the field before getting shipped off to the Warriors to help Stephen Curry get his first triple double), but quite bad for a player who the Blazers thought was going to contribute. Even a recent increase in minutes hadn’t seen much of an increase in scoring.
I don’t know what sort of magical reversal in his fortunes happened tonight to make him go off like this, but the results were glorious. 16 points on 7 made shots, all in the fourth quarter, he was the reason the Blazers won this game and avoided getting embarrassed by the Hornets. I’m getting some serious Jake Layman vibes right now, except I don’t think Tolliver can do much above the rim these days.