Anthony records stat-line never seen in 40-minute era

On Friday evening, Cole Anthony achieved a feat never before seen in the 40-minute era of the NBL.

In fact, the last man to match Anthony’s output got to have a front-row seat to the performance.

That’s because he was sitting on the bench, helping orchestrate United’s offense and get Anthony his flurry of good looks at the rim.

On the 27th of October, 2007, David Barlow put together the NBL’s ‘most perfect’ scoring performance, tallying 37 points without a miss; 14-14 from the field, 8-8 from three, 1-1 from the charity stripe.

Anthony came ever so close to matching the effort, going 13-14 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line, while his only miss came on a last-second attempt at the triple to close the third term.

In doing so, the star import guard became just the 7th player in league history to shoot 90% or better from the field while connecting on at least 13 field goals.

Looking back on the performance, Barlow assured Melbourne United Media that he was not aware Anthony could have broken his record, but admitted the pair, along with fellow coach Nathan Crosswell, shared a good laugh following the game about it.

“We only really became aware of what he was doing at the end of the third quarter, as he had just missed that buzzer-beater attempt from the corner, and he was 9-10 from the field,” Barlow explained.

“He was having an all-time game, a remarkable game, and at that point, we realized he had not missed, other than that three.

“So, we only really thought about how efficient he was after he had missed that one. I was thinking ‘Wow, this is a remarkable game. He's cooking right now’.

“After the fact, Crossy (Nathan Crosswell) who played in the game I scored all those points in said something like ‘He's doing well, he's almost as good as you were that night’, but I dare say his performance was more impressive than what mine was, just overall basketball wise.”

Anthony has been a scoring machine since arriving in Melbourne, having tallied 292 points across his first 12 games; the most ever by a player in the 40-minute era.

He is one of two players averaging over 20 points per game while playing less than 30 minutes per game, the other being teammate Josh Oduro.

Barlow touched on how pleased he has been with the pair of stars across the first eight rounds of action.

“We’re lucky to have them,” he continued.

“They've come in and done a great job, and not only on the court, but off the court too as great guys, in addition to being great players.

“Together they shot 24-29 and combined for 60 points, which is phenomenal. It’s something the coaches were wondering after the game if it had ever been done before.

“I do have to give a shout-out to Stephen Hoare, who went 7-7 on the night I went 14-14. We didn’t have 60, but we didn’t miss a shot, so we’ll always have that.”

Anthony, Oduro and the rest of United’s stars will next take the court on Thursday evening when the team travels to Adelaide for a matchup with the 36ers from 7:30pm, which will be streamed live via ESPN and Disney+.

Following this, fans will get an opportunity to see their scoring prowess on full display during Throwdown 35 on Saturday inside John Cain Arena against the SEM Phoenix from 7:30pm. Tickets are selling fast, so act quickly to secure your seat.