Carmelo Anthony Gets Very Honest About Player Meeting
Carmelo Anthony got very honest about the contentious meeting NBA players and coaches participated in on Wednesday. He acknowledged that everyone did not come into it on the same page, but that ultimately all involved “eventually came to an agreement.”
“Look, we got together, we had conversations, we had dialog,” he said.
“We had very open and honest dialog with all the guys that was here. Now was everybody on the same page? No, everybody has they own opinions, everybody has they own feelings and they own things that they stand on and they believe in. But for the sake of this NBA and our players and our union, we decided as a unit to come back and play.
“Again, we all have our different opinions, our different takes on it, but I think overall, we’re doing it for the greater good of what we have and what we started and what we’ve accomplished and just being able to continue to use our platform and to speak out and bring awareness of a lot of the different issues that’s happening out there in our community. Also along those lines, nobody knows what’s going to happen after this.”
Overall, the 36-year-old just stressed that the conversation that players were having, no matter how heated it was at certain moments, was always “meaningful.”
“Again, it’s been dialog, it’s been talk, it’s been conversation, meaningful conversation, but nobody knows what’s going to come out of this,” Anthony said.
“So again, everybody has they own opinion and we here, the games start back tomorrow. Obviously everybody came to an agreement when it came to that.”
The Lakers and Blazers are set to resume the NBA Playoffs on Saturday evening. Their Game 5 was originally due to take place on Wednesday, but it got postponed when the Milwaukee Bucks spontaneously launched a player-led strike that spread throughout the rest of the league.
The Bucks decided to step up and send Jacob Blake a little gift this week. https://t.co/55U3BuiGP4
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 29, 2020
Anthony admitted that it had been a busy week, but he still believed his team would be ready to go against LA.
“Emotionally we’ll be ready for that game, mentally we’ll be ready for that game,” he said.
“I’m sure there are guys — this is a tough situation. No excuses, but what we’re dealing with right now is bigger than basketball. It’ll be very difficult to kind of wrap our minds around everything that’s going on and focus on the things that’s going on that effecting our community and then go out there and play basketball.
“It’s a thin line between the two but we have to do it. We’ve got to go out there, we’ve got to play and it’s no time to give up now, we’ve got to continue to fight this fight.”
Chris Paul stepped up and got his entire team registered to vote. The rest of the NBA has yet to follow suit. https://t.co/h6Rwh8yu53
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 28, 2020
Anthony and the Blazers are currently down 3-1 to the Lakers. Making matters worse, they will be without their star, Damian Lillard, who is out for the rest of the series with a knee injury.
Most odds makers are not giving Portland much of a chance in Game 5. Currently, the Lakers are listed at -13.5.
Even if by some miracle the Blazers do end up prevailing in this one, it is unlikely this series goes past six games.
The winner of this series will go on to play the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 match-up between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
Related: Milwaukee Bucks Send Special Gift To Jacob Blake
Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
