https://youtu.be/pCCHvgrpuBw
I know for a fact that most players on bottom-feeding teams will realize when it’s the last game of the season and that the coach doesn’t care about the quality of their shot selection anymore. They’re not dumb, they know what the standings are. But I feel like most players don’t want fans to realize that the players realize that this is the case, so they will still try to play the game “the right way” without lapsing into iso chuckmaster hero-ball.
Cole Anthony doesn’t care about that. He unrepentantly went full chuck mode in this game, and the result was a scintillating 10-of-25 shooting performance, topped with a flawless 14-of-14 from the welfare stripe, and garnished with an entire two assists (plus six turnovers), for a grand total of 37 pointerinos. There were probably some other players on the Magic who were watching Anthony’s ball-dominant, shot-dominant display with jealousy, but the thing is, Anthony got to shoot all those shots because he’s the point guard. If those other dudes wanted to shoot those shots, they could’ve been the point guard, but they weren’t. Anthony was the point guard, and he got to decide what happened with the ball. And, most often, what happened with the ball was Anthony trying to score it himself.
Some of you might be wondering, does Anthony get to visit The Hall of the Thirty Point Scorers where Carlos Delfino reigns supreme? The answer is both yes and no. Anthony was admitted into The Hall, but upon his entry, Delfino discovered a rarely-invoked rule where a player who makes more free throws than field goals (in Anthony’s case, fourteen to ten) is instead demoted to the lesser “Ancient Dusty Burial-Tomb of the Players Who Make More Free Throws than Field Goals”. So that’s where Anthony is right now, chilling out underneath some pyramid in pure darkness with only mummies to keep him company. But it’s a pretty cool place. There would be a lot of fun hieroglyphics to read if there was any light to read them by.
I’ll leave the speculation as to what Markelle Fultz’s future with the Magic will be, given Anthony’s late-season emergence, for another time. Or I’ll just leave it for other people to think about. Thinking about the future of the Magic franchise always leaves me feeling a bit depressed.