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Best Game Ever: Carmelo Anthony had a different feeling that night at the Superdome

Carmelo Anthony, center, playing for Syracuse, with Texas' James Thomas and Sydmill Harris in 2003.
Carmelo Anthony fights for rebounding position against Texas’ James Thomas, left, and Sydmill Harris during Syracuse’s Final Four victory on April 5, 2003, in New Orleans.
(Michael Mulvey / Associated Press)
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Dan Woike asked NBA players to tell us about the best game in their basketball career. This week: Carmelo Anthony.

Syracuse 95, Texas 84: 33 points, 12-19 FG, 3-4 3FG, 6-7 FT, 14 reb, 3 stl

The Portland Trail Blazers forward was one of the last people out of the Memphis visiting locker room right before the All-Star break, a smile growing across his face. He knows what you think his “best game ever” is — the night he electrified Madison Square Garden with 62 points against the Charlotte Bobcats. But that’s too obvious, so he went deeper — to his one year at Syracuse — to describe a day where everything just felt right.

“It was the Final Four game against Texas. Nobody expected us to win. The stakes were an all-time high. We had gotten that far and everything was just open. The goal was open, everything was just super clear, beginning that morning. On the court, it all was super clear, everything. It was in New Orleans — the Superdome. But we were used to it because we played in a dome — the Carrier Dome. That’s a different type of thing though, the Superdome, in that moment. That was the biggest game I’d played. It wasn’t like things were easy. Everything was just clicking. Everything is in sync, everything, from the way you take your nap to how easy it is to wake up, from how you went to sleep the night before, resting, eating — it’s a different feeling.”

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NBA players tell us about their best game ever.

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