NBA Legend Praises Spartans' Home-Court Advantage
The Michigan State Spartans possess one of the most electric and ground-shaking environments inside the Breslin Center. One former college basketball legend made an impressive statement regarding the intimidation and difficulty of playing in East Lansing.
Syracuse Hall-of-Fame guard and former NBA legend Carmelo Anthony claimed that the Breslin Center trumps any other arena that he has ever played in at any level of basketball. Quite a statement from a guy that played over 1200 games between college and the NBA.
Anthony spoke on his podcast, "7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony," hosting special guest Keon Coleman, a former multi-sport Spartan and current Buffalo Bills receiver. The two began talking about Coleman's time with the Spartans. "Melo" interjected with quite the statement.
"I faced a Tom Izzo team during my year at 'Cuse [Syracuse] in Michigan State, but that game was crucial and it ended up being a tough road win for us," Anthony said.
"It's hard to win in Michigan State, going on the road, on a Saturday, at 12 o'clock, it's nasty. I always say that's the worst place, the hardest place I ever had to play, any basketball game, was Michigan State, ever."
Anthony dropped a team-high 25 points with seven rebounds and four assists in a 76-75 win over the Spartans. He credited the Breslin but was still ice cold, going a perfect 5-5 from three-point range. It would be the only time Anthony faced the Spartans, being drafted third overall in 2003.
This is guy that spent his lone college season in the ACC, playing against schools like Duke at Cameron Indoor or North Carolina at Dean Smith Center. He was a 20-year NBA veteran that faced the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center in the Western Conference Finals his rookie year.
It is quite a feather in the cap of every single student and fan that has cheered on the Spartans at one time or another in East Lansing. They all deserve credit for making the Breslin Center, by Anthony's standards, the hardest place to play in all of basketball and a staple of the sport.
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