Carmelo Anthony might not have Spike Lee throwing fits and hyping him up on the sidelines anymore but on this Christmas he had someone much more special doing that: his 10-year old son.
Kiyan Carmelo Anthony got to celebrate Christmas jumping out of his seat, spinning in circles and pumping his fists (starting at the 5:17 mark of the above video) throughout the Thunder's 112-107 victory against the struggling Rockets, losers of their last three. The best moment came midway through the third quarter, when Kiyan stood up as his Dad received the ball in the post against James Harden. Melo backed down the beard a little then hit a turn around jump shot that made an excited Kiyan step onto the court.
"He gets into the game and he's a very intense kid." Said Melo, when asked if he hears Kiyan during the games. "He knows the game very well and I think that's his competitive spirit."
Melo's proud son wasn't just celebrating his Dad's buckets, he was jumping up and down on buckets by Russell Westbrook, Paul George and even rare buckets by Roberson and Huestis too. This isn't too surprising because Melo did say his son wanted him to go to OKC before he was even traded to the team.
Melo, who has had his share of awful shootings nights with OKC, finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. It was his third game of the month with over 20 points and third shooting over 50%. The game was also the first since October with Melo, Paul George (8-15) and Russell Westbrook (12-24) all shooting over 50% and it was the team's fifth win in a row, 7th in eight games.
I'm going to assume this is how Kiyan was acting after the victory.