Brendan Haywood says the greatest performance he ever saw came from Carmelo Anthony: "It was all mid-range jumpers"
Brendan Haywood says the greatest performance he ever saw came from Carmelo Anthony: "It was all mid-range jumpers" originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Brendan Haywood played 13 years in the NBA from 2001-02 to 2014-15.
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During his era, he played against some of the greatest scorers to ever grace the NBA hardwood, like Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and he was even on the same team with a Washington Wizards version of Michael Jordan
When it comes to the greatest performance he's ever witnessed from those legends, Haywood told Dan Patrick on the latter's podcast that it's a toss-up between Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony, who both scored 62 points against his teams.
"It's either Tracy or Carmelo. Tracy had 60-plus on us, too. And that was when Tracy was in Orlando. And Carmelo had 60 on us in the Garden. I would probably say it's Carmelo because it was all mid-range jumpers," said Haywood.
Both McGrady and Anthony dropped 62 points on Haywood's teams
On March 10, 2004, McGrady dropped 62 points on a Wizards team that Haywood played on. In that game, T-Mac shot 20-37 from the field and was 5-14 from the 3-point distance and 17-26 from the free throw line as his Magic defeated the Wizards 108-99.
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Towards the end of Brendan's NBA career, he witnessed Carmelo explode for 62 points against his Charlotte Bobcats team on January 24, 2014, at Madison Square Garden. Melo shot 24-35 from the field and 10-10 from the foul line.
However, contrary to Haywood's statement that it was all midrange, Melo made six out of 10 3-point attempts in the game. But while it was not the midrange clinic that Brendan talked about, it was no doubt an incredible display of isolation skills.
"When Carmelo gets hot, there's nothing (you can do)... It's all jabs, series, jabs, pump fakes, step-through, spin moves. When Carmelo has a 60, it's a loud 60 because it's all one-on-one iso. Nobody's creating any shots for him. He is getting it all out the mud and it's a long night," added Brendan.
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Related: "That was a huge compliment for me" - Hakeem Olajuwon was proud that LeBron James asked him for help after his lowest NBA moment
Carmelo is a pure bucket-getter
Aside from Anthony's unmatched one-on-one skills and his silky smooth shooting touch, what also made him an incredible scorer was his mindset. As former NBA forward Thaddeus Young once said, every time Melo stepped on a basketball, he only had one goal in mind: scoring the basketball.
"Melo was difficult just because, man, he live the whole game like this MF just trying to get a bucket the whole game, you know what I'm saying?" Young stated.
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"At least you can depend on Dirk to pass a little bit, you know what I'm saying? Melo trying to get to it," he pointed out.
When Anthony dropped 62 on Haywood's Bobcats in 2014, he did so with zero assists, proving Young's statement correct. The incoming 2025 Hall of Famer has a career assists average of 2.7 per game only. Meanwhile, McGrady was a more willing passer as he averaged 4.4 assists per game during his 15-year NBA tenure. T-Mac also had five assists the night when he scored 62.
Anthony had an insane usage rate of 49.5 percent in that game while McGrady's usage during his 62-point performance was at 47.5. On the other hand, Melo's true shooting percentage that night was 78.7 percent against McGrady's 64.0 percent, making it the more efficient outing.
Related: "I think about all that stuff" - Carmelo Anthony admits not winning the championship with the Knicks bothers him
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
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