“The passion of wanting to be better” – Carmelo Anthony on his excellent shooting form for the LA Lakers to start the season

Carmelo Anthony is on a roll. The 18-year league veteran put up another strong showing as the LA Lakers clinched a relatively easy 95-85 win at home against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.

Carmelo had 23 points off the bench, shooting a very efficient 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the field and 5-of-8 (62.5%) from the three-point line for the Lakers. The 37-year-old forward also had two steals and four blocked shots in the contest that made it an all-round performance from him.

Speaking on his good shooting form to start the season, including this game, Carmelo said:

“I’m just working on it. I stay in the gym. It’s something that I’ve always worked on. It’s easy for me to adapt to what is going on. The willingness of adapting. I said it earlier in the season, but the passion of wanting to be better, of wanting to be in the gym everyday, getting better, learning what I need to do… the more aggressive I can get. I just got to sharp when my number is called. It’s a long season but I got to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Carmelo’s 23 points against the Rockets came after he went off for 24 points in the win against Cleveland on Friday. He also had a season-high 28 points in the Lakers’ first win of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies. Overall, Carmelo is shooting 50.0% from the field and 52.2% from downtown this season, which are single-season, career-best numbers for the 2003 Draft pick.

Frank Vogel gushes over Carmelo’s defense for the Lakers

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was particularly impressed with Carmelo’s defensive effort against the Rockets. When asked about Carmelo’s all-round effort in the game, Vogel was candid in his assessment.

“I didn’t expect to see him have a defensive performance like he did tonight. It was great. Forget about the steals, the blocks and strips, he’s always good with his hands. But he was in the right position. When you watch him on tape, coming into this year, the effort is there. He plays hard on that side of the ball… He’s willing to do all these things. He can do all these things. When he is providing that kind of performance on the defensive side of the ball, with the way he is shooting it, he’s a huge part of our win tonight.”

Carmelo is averaging 16.7 ppg, his best scoring average since the 2016-17 NBA season when he played his last season for the New York Knicks.

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