Best Known As: Sports Figure

Gist:  Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also played with the United States national basketball team. He went to Towson Catholic for high school and decided to go to Syracuse for college. As a freshman in college, Anthony led Syracuse University to a 30?5 record and the school's first NCAA championship in men's basketball in 2003. He was named the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) of the 2003 NCAA Final Four and MVP of NCAA East Regional. He was also named the consensus national Freshman of the Year and was a unanimous choice as the Big East Conference Freshman of the Year. Anthony was selected as the third pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and named the 2005 Rookie Challenge MVP.

Life Facts:  Anthony has two brothers, Robert and Wilford, a sister Michelle, and a half-sister Daphne. His mother, Mary, is African American, and his father was Puerto Rican.

Anthony became engaged to La La Vasquez on Christmas Day, 2004. They have a son, Kiyan Carmelo Anthony, born on March 7, 2007.

Anthony was a guest star in the "Lost and Found" episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. In the episode, Ned finds a pair of sneakers autographed by Anthony in the school's lost and found and attempts to claim the shoes for his own.

Anthony was in the music video for Common's song "Be" from the album Be in 2005.

Anthony is the only player to appear on the cover of all three EA Sports basketball franchises (NCAA March Madness, NBA Live and NBA Street). He was on the covers of NCAA March Madness 2004, NBA Live 2005 and NBA Street Homecourt.

In January 2009, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame selected Anthony as its professional athlete of the year for 2008. He and wrestler Henry Cejudo, also a 2008 gold medalist, were chosen to be the special award headliners for the induction banquet held on April 14 2009.

Career Facts:  Anthony commuted to Towson Catholic High School for his first three years of high school. During the summer of 2000, when he grew five inches, he made a name for himself in the area, being named The Baltimore Sun's metro player of the year in 2001, as well as Baltimore Catholic League player of the year. Anthony transferred to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia for his senior campaign. While at Oak Hill Academy, Anthony was named to the McDonald's All-American Team and won the Sprite Slam Jam dunk contest prior to the McDonald?s All-American game. He was also named a USA Today First-Team All-American and a Parade First-Team All-American.

Anthony played and started in 80 games during the season. He averaged 26.5 ppg (8th, NBA), 2.7 apg, 4.9 rpg and 1.1 spg. His eighth place finish in NBA scoring was the highest finish by a Denver player since the 1990?91 season, when Nuggets guard Michael Adams finished the season sixth in NBA scoring.

On November 23, 2005, with the Nuggets facing the two-time defending Eastern Conference Champion Detroit Pistons, Anthony hauled down his 1,000th career rebound. A month later, Anthony recorded a then career-high 45 points in a losing effort against the Philadelphia 76ers. On March 17, 2006, versus the Memphis Grizzlies, he scored 33 points to push his career point total over the 5,000 mark. Also, in doing so, he became the second youngest player to accomplish that feat (behind James). As the month of March came to a close, the Nuggets finished 11-5, and Anthony was named as the NBA Player of the Month for March. He also took home Player of the Week honors for March 13, 2006 ? March 19, 2006.

During the season, Anthony made five game-winning shots in the last five seconds: at Houston on January 8, 2006; at home versus Phoenix on January 10; at Minnesota on February 24; at Indiana on March 15; at home versus the Los Angeles Lakers on April 6. All five of those game-winners were made on jump shots, while the shot against Minnesota was a three-point field goal. Anthony also made a shot in the final seconds to force overtime vs. the Dallas Mavericks on January 6. He made shots in the final 22 seconds against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 18, 2006, and the Philadelphia 76ers on March 9, which gave the Nuggets leads they would never lose.

Anthony was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the season, alongside Phoenix' Shawn Marion, Houston's Yao Ming, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Washington's Gilbert Arenas.

The Nuggets finished the season in third place, winning the Northwest Division for the first time in Anthony's career. Denver faced the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs. The Clippers held home court advantage in the series, due to ending the regular season with a better record (Denver finished 44-38; Los Angeles finished 47?35). The Clippers won the first two games of the series on their home floor. The Nuggets split their games at home in Denver (winning game three; losing game four). Denver then lost game five at Los Angeles, which eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs.

On December 10, 2008, in a 116-105 home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Anthony tied George Gervin for the most points scored in one quarter in NBA history by scoring 33 points in the third quarter. Gervin had set the record when he was competing against David Thompson for the scoring title on the last day of the 1977?78 season. Anthony shot 12 of 15 (80%) in the third quarter and finished the game with 45 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

On January 4, 2009, Anthony broke a bone in his hand in a game against the Indiana Pacers. He opted to have the hand splinted rather than have surgery; his recovery time was estimated at three to four weeks. He had already missed three games in late December with a sore elbow. Anthony returned from injury and to the Nuggets starting lineup on January 30, 2009 in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats in which he scored 19 points. Anthony was suspended for one game by the Nuggets for staying on the court and refusing to leave the game after coach George Karl benched him during a game against the Indiana Pacers.

The Nuggets won the Northwest Division and placed 2nd in the Western Conference, finishing the season with a franchise record-tying 54 wins (54?28 overall). Anthony averaged 22.8 ppg and made a career high 37.1% of his shots from three-point range. After losing in 5 straight playoff appearances (2004?2008), on April 29, 2009, Anthony won his first playoff series when the Nuggets beat the New Orleans Hornets at home 107?86, Anthony finished with a playoff career high 34 points and 4 steals. In a post-game conference Anthony said "Yeah, finally.. Took me 5 years to get that gorilla off my back, it's a great feeling." The Nuggets beat the Hornets in five games in the first round of the playoffs and have beaten the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the conference semifinals with Anthony scoring 30 points in a solid game 5 performance. In the third game of the semifinals, Anthony made a last second three point shot to give the Nuggets the win after being down by 2 points (103?105). Denver advanced to the conference finals, but was eliminated 4-2 to the Los Angeles Lakers on his birthday.

|-

| align="left" | 2003?04

| align="left" | Denver

| 4 || 4 || 35.8 || .328 || .182 || .800 || 8.3 || 2.8 || 1.2 || .0 || 15.0

|-

| align="left" | 2004?05

| align="left" | Denver

| 5 || 5 || 36.0 || .422 || .000 || .813 || 5.4 || 2.0 || .6 || .2 || 19.2

|-

| align="left" | 2005?06

| align="left" | Denver

| 5 || 5 || 38.6 || .333 || .000 || .750 || 6.6 || 2.8 || .8 || .2 || 21.0

|-

| align="left" | 2006?07

| align="left" | Denver

| 5 || 5 || '42.0' || '.480' || '.500' || .795 || 8.6 || 1.2 || 1.0 || .0 || 26.8

|-

| align="left" | 2007?08

| align="left" | Denver

| 4 || 4 || 36.5 || .364 || .250 || '.828' || '9.5' || 2.0 || .5 || .2 || 22.5

|-

| align="left" | 2008?09

| align="left" | Denver

| '16' || '16' || 38.3 || .453 || .364 || .826 || 5.8 || '4.1' || '1.8' || '.6' || '27.2'

|-

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" |

| 39 || 39 || 38.1 || .416 || .343 || .807 || 6.8 || 2.9 || 1.2 || .3 || 23.6