De’Anthony Melton AKA DeMelto Anthony just amassed a career high in points by scoring nine points in the final 23 seconds of the game. Obviously some very weird things have to happen in order for a player to put up a scoring burst that, while not really rivaling T-Mac’s 13 in 33 seconds in terms of sheer scoring nutsness, was still extremely outrageous.
Only three of Melton’s points in his little run of scoring came from a made field goal. He banked in a three-pointer (much to the chagrin of the fans), the Kings intentionally fouled De’Aaron Fox (battle of the De’s here) who missed both free throws (we know who the better De’ is now), and then Kent Bazemore fouled Melton on a three-point attempt. Since Melton is clearly the most cold-blooded free throw assassin in the game today, basically the anti-Nick Anderson, he knocked down all three of them. Some more free throws are exchanged and the Grizzlies get a non-Melton bucket in there too.
Then, with seven seconds left and down four points, Melton heaves up a desperation three-pointer that doesn’t even really look that much like a shot attempt. Harrison Barnes unwisely gets his hands in the mix to try to knock the ball out and ends up hitting more arm than ball. The refs give Melton the free throws while Sacramento fans murmur restlessly in a combination of shock and anger. Mr. Free Throws (my new nickname for Melton) calmly splashes them all, but the Kings have no more choking left in them, and they hang on for the win.
In general, I hate free throws, but if there MUST be free throws, then I guess clutch free throws at the end of the game are the best free throws to show. Nevertheless, this video would have been cooler if, instead of the free throws, Melton had just splashed three-pointers until Luke Walton’s balding head exploded.