Knicks Legend Carmelo Anthony Addresses Rebounding Quirk

When New York Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony got a rebound, he certainly let you know about it.

In a career that will become Hall of Fame-certified this weekend, Anthony amassed 7,808 rebounds, with 2,865 coming through his seven-year term with the Knicks. A good number of them were heralded by Anthony loudly declaring "I got, f*** out of here!" or some variation thereof. Anthony was confronted about NSFW informing by Stephen Colbert during his recent appearance on the latter's "Late Show" this week and offered the origins of his emphatic informing.

"Honestly, man, coaches used to get on you about rebounding a basketball," Anthony said after Colbert played him a cussing compilation. "I grew up around old-school coaches where they say if somebody comes up to you, you just knock their teeth out to go get the basket."

Anthony implied that, if he started making the calls earlier in his career, his numbers on the boards might be even larger.

"People used to steal my rebounds, too," he said. "When you look at my statsheet down the line, it's like why am I only averaging this and I'm supposed to averaging [that], I'm rebounding like this? Then you realizing, you know what? Every time I start rebounding, I'm going to let everyone know that this is my rebound."

Anthony's descent upon the Ed Sullivan Theater was far from the first time Anthony entertained metropolitan crowds, as his NBA tenure is perhaps best-remembered for returning to his home city to play at Madison Square Garden. Anthony put up 24.7 points and 7.0 rebounds a game as a Knick, ranking in franchise's all-time top 10 in both the offensive and defensive variety.

In his interview with Colbert, Anthony also confirmed that he had a bit of metropolitan inspiration when it came to his famed "fingers to the head" celebration after three-pointers. Previously hinted at by former teammate Iman Shumpert, Anthony said he engaged in a downplayed version of what Rasheed Wallace used to do during their shared time on Madison Square Garden hardwood. The post has been immortalized on the "Hall-of-Fame Edition" cover of "NBA 2K26," which was released earlier this month.

"He used to do it one time, he used to do it very, very strong and aggressively," Anthony said of Wallace's version. "I was like, yo, you're going to hurt yourself. Then, I found myself just making a three and, being in the moment, I did it three times and I'm like, you know what? I'm sticking with this."

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