The chasm that separates Carmelo Anthony from reaching the plateau of greatness LeBron James has already achieved was clear in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
Anthony went up for a shot under the basket and leveled James in the face with an inadvertent elbow. After writhing on the floor in pain for a few seconds, James stoically got up, worked out his re-arranged jaw, and went to work.
No, he didn't go for 20 fourth-quarter points. The following offensive possession, James led the fast break and delivered a perfect bounce pass to Wally Szczerbiak for a dunk.
LeBron James is willing to beat you the most effective way possible at the expense of personal glory.
Now, reverse the situation. 'Melo takes a 'bow to the mug. What would he do? He'd take it upon himself to shoot his way to vengeance, regardless of the intent of his opponent.
If Anthony is on a fast break, no matter the advantage in numbers, he's forcing up a shot himself.
Another telling detail following that play is that Anthony literally disappeared for the rest of the game. In the fourth quarter, he went 0-for-2 from the field, had one rebound and one turnover.
The point is this: stop playing up the Anthony vs. James rivalry. There is none. It's like drumming up the matchup between Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O'Neal back in the prime of their respective careers.
Sure, 'Zo was talented, but he was no Shaq. Just like 'Melo isn't, and probably won't ever be, LeBron.
Other notes
The ball movement for both teams was extraordinary, especially early on. LeBron had to love being one of six players in double figures as much as his teammates appreciated his 11 dimes in the Cavs' 110-99 victory over Denver. Besides lighting it up himself (9-for-13 from the field for 26 points), Chauncey Billups ran a steady ship for Denver and dished out six assists. If Iverson were still wearing a Nuggets uni, the game would've brought out the best (scoring) and worst (shooting) from him. Referee Joey Crawford is at it again. On a nationally televised marquee matchup that appeared all but done in the closing minute, the official infamous for tossing Tim Duncan while he was sitting on the bench chose to exercise his authority on Kenyon Martin. Now Martin is obviously a different character than Duncan but the ejection was still questionable. Crawford called Martin for a Flagrant 2, signaling that the maligned forward had thrown an elbow at Cavs forward Anderson Varejao. Replays clearly showed that 1) Varejao flopped and 2) Martin's forearm in no way extended from his immediate person. That didn't stop Crawford from vehemently signaling for Martin's ejection (Martin did receive a deserved technical foul moments earlier).
Rasheed Wallace was fortunate enough to amend some costly mistakes in the fourth quarter of the Pistons' 107-102 victory over the Warriors. After tipping the ball into the wrong basket and missing two free throws, 'Sheed hit back-to-back threes to help secure the "W." How good was Kwame Brown in his first start for the Pistons this season? He made Warriors center Andris Biedrins look like Dwight Howard. The Latvian had 17 points and 19 rebounds. Apparently no one in Golden State over the summer thought Stephen Jackson could be a possible solution at point guard. Captain Jack was doing his best Nash impersonation with a cool 15 points and nine assists. Warriors point guards C.J. Watson and Marcus Williams combined for one assist between them. With the methodical Billups out and the speedy Iverson in, the Pistons just looked awkward trying to run half-court sets while A.I. was on the floor. As soon as they starting running with the Warriors though, it looked almost natural. The Mavs choked one away to the Bulls last night, losing 98-91 after leading by as many as 19 points. Is Dallas that bad this year, or is Chicago good enough to pull that off? Derrick Rose's biggest asset has got to be his confidence. Any other rookie point guard goes 1-for-8 in the first half, he is not shooting until his coach yells at him to chuck it. Rose busted out on 6-for-7 in the third quarter en route to 16 points for the night. Seriously, what will Ben Gordon be worth next summer? He went off for 35 points last night, and is averaging almost 20 ppg early in the season. Will he be one of those volume-shooting guards that gets more than what he's worth (see: Jason Richardson at $12 million a year) or a highly productive bargain (see: Kevin Martin at $8 million)? For more from this Bleacher Report writer, click here.
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