China's Guo Ailun Crosses Carmelo Anthony, Hits A 3 And Then Gets Crossed By Kyrie Irving

Dammit Carmelo! You were supposed to catch, shoot and make the 3 from Kyrie Irving so this could have been a payback post. Let's back up a little.

Midway through the 2nd quarter with China only trailing by 26 points, Guo Ailun put Carmelo Anthony on skates, then drained a step-back 3-pointer that somehow made Reggie Miller think of Tony Parker. The ball was then inbounded to Kyrie Irving, he goes behind his back and crosses Guo before passing to Carmelo behind the 3-point line. Instead of pulling up for the contested 3 or making a move and taking a step-back-payback 3, Melo puts the ball on the ground, dribbles, gets fouled and then passes to a wide-open DeMar DeRozan, who shoots an airball after the whistle.

As disappointing as the end of this play was, it gives me an excuse to throw up this 2014 throwback video of James Harden getting his ankles broken vs Nigeria. Word is this is the day James Harden said "I'm done playing defense."