Carmelo Anthony received a standing ovation from Trail Blazers fans Wednesday night, who chanted his name throughout a 19-point performance during his home debut.
Damian Lillard led the way for Portland with 27 points in a 136-119 win against the OKC Thunder, and says Portland has now “got another mega star.”
Five games into his NBA return, Anthony has “found that happiness” in Rip City.
Per The Oregonian:
“It’s fun to see,” Lillard said of the “Me-lo” chants. “We’ve got another mega star, a Hall of Famer … and the fans are excited about it, as they should be. I think it’s a point in his career where he needs that type of support. He needs people behind him and to feel good about what he’s doing. So it was great to witness. We all want to be a part of his comeback. We want to see it work out. We want to see him get the respect that he’s due. So to see how the crowd responded to him, it’s really good to see and be a part of. And it’s also … a spark and some energy that our team needed. It’s fun to see.”
The flow is back in coach Terry Stotts’ flow offense.
“Obviously he presents a different challenge for the other team, just from a respect standpoint,” Lillard said. “They’ve got to honor another guy so it can change (defensive) coverages, it can change how much a team wants to help, who they help off of, just having another threat like him out there. So I think it’s partly him being who he is.”
