Carmelo Anthony surprised after fourth quarter benching

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony didn’t play the entire fourth quarter of Friday’s overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets, much to his surprise.

Anthony played the overtime period, but was absent for the fourth quarter, partially by choice.

“Yeah, of course,” Anthony said, via ESPN’s Royce Young. “Of course I wanted to be there, but that wasn’t my decision to make, so I kind of leave that to coach on that one.”

Anthony had been poised to check in with three minutes to go in regulation, but waved himself off after Jerami Grant hit a three to put the Thunder up six.

“I was sitting for the whole fourth, and there was like two and some change on the clock,” Anthony said. “[Grant] hit that 3, so it was like, just let him continue to go out there and just play it out and see what happens. But then we wind up going to overtime.

“I think I’ve done it before, but not that late in the game and in the quarter. I’ve done it before where a guy has it going and didn’t want to break his rhythm. A lot of times, when guys have it going like that, especially role players guys, bench guys, that gives them confidence, that you do believe in those guys. But not that late in a game like that, never did that.”

Anthony has been okay with a more off-ball role in Oklahoma City, but his numbers have definitely suffered. His 16.3 points per game is the worst figure of his career by some distance.