"Merro s dormant point": The most thrilling night in Anthony s career

A stadium coordinate map of various famous NBA scenes circulated on the Internet, including a "Mero dormant point": In the 2009-10 regular season, Carmelo Anthony suddenly fell to the ground during the offense, but the referee did not interrupt the game, resulting in the "one lie down and nine fights" wonder. It was not until thirty seconds later that Anthony's teammate was fouled by a shooting, and both sides stopped to check Anthony's situation.

This has become a funny moment in fans' memories now, but in fact, the situation was very thrilling at that time.

"I really fainted... It was pitch black in front of me." Anthony recently recalled the incident in detail on the podcast. He said that his temple hit the defender's hip bone, and suddenly lost consciousness on the court, his body was completely unconscious. When he opened his eyes, he found that the entire stadium was holding his breath and looking at him. The temporal bone, which we call the temple, is one of the weakest areas of the skull, with a thickness of only 1-2 mm. There is only a thin layer of soft tissue under the temple, which lacks muscle and fat to absorb impact forces, so external forces are easily transmitted directly into the skull, which may cause impact on the middle meningeal artery and brainstem. In mild cases, concussions and in severe cases, intracranial hemorrhage.

Fortunately, Anthony was lucky enough to avoid injury and returned to the court on the spot. However, this may be the most thrilling game of his career.

Looking back now, the 2009-10 season was an important turning point after the Nuggets' Millennium. The previous year, they exchanged the Pistons for the 2004 FMVP Chauncey Billups before the deadline, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1985.

Entering the offseason, the Nuggets renewed their contract with 5 years and 21.17 million yuan to be popular with fans. Anthony Carter and John Petro both returned with basic salary, but the departure of starting point guard Deng Tai Jones and substitute forward Linas Creza caused them to lose two important rotations. However, through the draft night, the Nuggets basically maintained the rotation depth, including a series of operations such as Ty Lawson being selected with 18 picks and getting Aaron Avraro from the Pistons trade.

, which entered the Western Conference Finals last season, the Nuggets started very strongly, with a record of 35 wins and 18 losses before the All-Star Weekend. Two leading stars Anthony and Billups were both selected as All-Stars, and coach George Carl also became the head coach of the Western Conference All-Star team.

The good times did not last long. During the season, Carl was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. He had to recuperate in advance and bid farewell to the season. Assistant coach Adrian Dantley temporarily took over the team. After the All-Star Week, the Nuggets were not as aggressive as before, and eventually ranked fourth in the West with only 53 wins and 29 losses. They were eliminated 2-4 by the Jazz in the first round.

called this season a turning point because Anthony applied for a deal in the 2010-11 season and finally went to the Big Apple City where he was longing for, and the Nuggets began a new round of team building.

Anthony's shocking night happened in the second half of the season when the Nuggets began to decline.

On April 8, 2010, the Nuggets visited Oklahoma City. This is the fourth time the two teams have played against each other in the season. The Nuggets won the first two home courts and won the Thunder in total 28 points. The Thunder gave the Nuggets who lack Anthony at home a 17-point defeat. In this game, the Thunder opened more temporary seats on the upper floor of the stadium, with the entry of the audience reaching a season-high 18,332.

The two teams scored tightly in the first half. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were in full form, with a total of 12 of 19 shots scoring 30 points. In contrast, the Nuggets, the two All-Stars Anthony and Billups made 7 of 21 shots together, but Avraro stepped up and scored 12 points. Coupled with the team's fierce frontcourt rebounds, they were only one point behind in the half when their shooting efficiency was obviously not as good as the Thunder.

After the change of sides, the Thunder continued their excellent shooting feel, shooting 55% of their super high shooting percentage in a single quarter. The Nuggets, led by Anthony, who made 1 of 6 shots, made 6 of 20 shots in a single quarter, with a shooting percentage of only 30%.

Just as the third quarter was about to end, the Thunder was hitting a 13-2 climax, and Anthony faced Durant in the right elbow area. The space between the two sides was extremely congested, and nine of the ten players on the field were stationed in the penalty area. Anthony took out the three-threat posture of the signboard, quickly observed the situation, and chose the cross step to break to the left.

Durant accurately judged Anthony's movements, quickly moved sideways and steadily caught the physical confrontation, blocked the breakthrough route, and Westbrook's assisted defense came one after another. Anthony crashed directly into Durant's arms, staggered and forced to collect the ball, and then fell down in pain as if he had suffered some heavy blow. The referee then blew a whistle and ordered Anthony to violate the rules and the Thunder to obtain the ball.

At this time, Nick Collison had alertly snatched the ball from Anthony's arms (it was said to be a snatch, but it was actually completely effortless) and was about to serve the ball outside the boundary, but the latter showed no sign of getting up and was still lying underground and panting heavily. Thunder home fans have booed, thinking it is just Anthony's "trick" to delay the game.

Dantley shouted at the referee and asked for a timeout, but the referee continued the game without hearing it. After Westbrook received the ball, he intended to pass Durant in the frontcourt for a long time, but JR Smith, who was returned to defense, broke down (it is worth mentioning that Westbrook made 7 mistakes in this game), and then the most funny scene of the game appeared: Smith completely ignored Anthony who was motionless, passed James Harden and made a breakthrough layup, almost stepped on Anthony when he landed, but was blown away by missing a layup. After hearing the whistle, Smith seemed to point at Anthony on the ground in a little angrily, "Doesn't anyone care about him?"

"I can't believe he will try to layup," Seeing this scene, Billups, who was sitting on the bench at the time, had a big head. "I thought to myself, 'Brother, are you serious? Call a timeout, look at your buddy still lying on the ground and motionless. What the hell are you thinking? ’”

Finally, the Nuggets' coaching staff and medical staff took the opportunity to play for the game to check Anthony's condition. Trainer Jim Guilan knelt on one knee next to Anthony and asked about his condition.

"This incident made us realize that Anthony is a basketball player, not a boxer, and that moment of impact was enough to get him out. "Charles Barkley said in the live broadcast.

His partner Kenny Smith did not forget to tease: "But it seems that the Nuggets did not play better defense (referring to Smith's intercepting the ball). ”

After lying on the ground for a few minutes, Anthony finally stood up and walked back to the locker room. The team doctor evaluated him and believed that he had no sign of a concussion. "One of the doctors asked me to say the name of the month backwards," Anthony said, "I can't do this normally. ”

Because the injury occurred at the end of the third quarter, Anthony returned to the game at the beginning of the final quarter after evaluation, so from the data, his playing time did not get shorter due to the injury. He only had one minute off in the second half. "Of course I want to go back on the court and continue to contribute," Anthony said, "but when I went back, my head started to hurt, and then Chauncey took over the game. ”

Nuggets were once behind 14 points in the final quarter, but in the last 9 minutes, they did not allow the Thunder to complete a sports goal. Billups scored 13 points in a single quarter and led the team to a 22-5 offensive to end the game. He made both free throws in the last 52.7 seconds to help the Nuggets overtake the score. Durant missed the equalization opportunity, and then Anthony made both free throws to secure the victory. The Nuggets overtake the Mavericks with this victory record and returned to the second in the Western Conference.

, Anthony made 7 of 21 points, scored 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals. "Merro was lying there at the time, but he was able to come back and hit two key free throws, which shows a lot of problems. "Teammate Kenyon Martin said.

"I told him that he would never play rugby in his life. "Dantley also joked with Anthony," he said he had been hit in his temple. But he looked like he was spread on the floor at that time...well, it was really interesting. ”

Anthony even played back-to-back against the Lakers the next day, playing 42 minutes in the game, scoring 10 of 20 shots, scoring 31 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. His headache did not subside, but when talking about whether to play before the game, he said bluntly: "I'm not dead again. ”

What about Smith, who ignores Anthony's layup?

It is said that Billups criticized him severely after the game, and when Martin was asked whether this round explained some of Smith's problems, his response seemed to be accustomed to: "Yes, whatever you want. ”