Melo aware of his worst career offensive stretch

Oklahoma City Thunder star Carmelo Anthony acknowledged he is enduring the toughest offensive stretch of his NBA career.

Just a week ago, Anthony was in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career. Going into the Thunder’s matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 1, the 33-year-old was averaging 19.7 points per game which was his lowest output since the 2004-05 season.

Unfortunately, the 10-time All-Star has only declined further.

Anthony said as much after the Thunder’s 100-95 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in Mexico City on Thursday, in which he scored just 11 points on five-of-20 shooting.

“I think these past three, four games, offensively, has been the toughest stretch for me as far as scoring the basketball, making shots,” he told reporters.

Anthony has failed to score more than 14 points in any of his last four games. Coming into this season he had never averaged fewer than 20 points per game. He is now averaging 18.1.

“This is a rough stretch for myself personally, probably the roughest that I’ve had throughout my career,” he said.

When Anthony was traded to Oklahoma City by the New York Knicks, the Thunder already had Russell Westbrook on the roster and Paul George had just been acquired via trade.

Between those two players it was easy to presume there were going to be a lot of shots taken. Westbrook and George averaged 42 shots attempted per game last season.

Adding Anthony to the equation only made the problem more pronounced. How does a team with three high-volume, isolation players get enough shots for each player to be effective? It is a problem the Thunder are dealing with and one they have not yet figured out as they are 11-13 for the season.

Anthony has had more problems than anyone as he has managed to score 20 points or more just three times in his last 13 games. It is something he is struggling with, but he was sure to say he was not going to let it get him down.

“It’s something that you’ve got to continue going forward, you’ve got to continue working at it,” he said. “Gotta continue playing, gotta continue taking shots that you normally make and just being confident with that.”