Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green has guarded some of the best offensive players to ever play in the NBA. He knows a thing or two about defense and claims that Carmelo Anthony was harder to guard than Jayson Tatum.
“The thing that Melo did different than just about anyone was the pressure he put on the rim,” said Green on the Club 520 Podcast. “I actually told JT this before, get to the cup. Sometimes you settle too much. I told him this after we beat him in the championship. I just want you to know our stuff was predicated on you settling.”
Anthony was a tougher cover than the Celtics star because, unlike Anthony, Tatum lets the defense off the hook.
“I had to guard Melo. He caught the ball in the mid-post, faced up, put his head down, drove to the rim, went right into me, laid it up, and missed. It probably could have been a foul, but it was borderline. He created all the contact. He looked at the ref like call the foul,” said Green.
“He went back to the same spot the next play, put his head down, ran through me, and got the foul. That is the pressure he put on the rim all the time,” Green added.
Anthony is the tenth leading scorer in NBA history. While Tatum is a talented player, he has a long way to go to catch Anthony in the all-time scoring ranks. Players have a knack for settling for jumpers with the way modern-day basketball is played, and Tatum could take his game to an even more elite level by attacking the way Anthony used to when he was dominating in the league.
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