Nobody in the arena was more happy than the Hawks players when Vince Carter hit 25,000th career point Wednesday night against Toronto.
It meant that they didn’t have to answer questions about dropping their 9th straight game or why the starters came out with absolutely no energy.
All the focus went to Vince and that was perfectly fine. With only a few minutes remaining in the game Carter entered back into the game and everyone knew getting him the six points was priority number one.
“I cheated, I cheated, I didn’t want to do it but I had to do it. I had to get Vince out there to get that milestone and I feel a lot better for doing it.” – Coach Pierce.
After a missed three pointer, some foul shots and another missed jumper Carter was still one point away, and than this happened.
At that moment the 9 straight losses, the lack of energy the Hawks played with or any ineptitudes that belonged to the Hawks didn’t matter because it was time to shine a light on Vince Carter. The kid from Daytona Beach, Florida joined a club that only 26 other men in the history of the NBA belong to. Now when you pull up the NBA scoring list for a career Vince Carter is sitting right there with 25,001 points right above Artis Gilmore and below Jerry West. Two Hall of Famers.
After the game Vince spent about 20 minutes talking with the press and just sharing reflections on his 20 year NBA journey. We had the chance to ask Vince about who was the veteran that took him under his wing when he first got into the league. Here was his response.
How can you really encapsulate the career Vince Carter has had? He’s played in multiple NBA Finals, All-Star games, the Olympics and is arguably the greatest dunker in NBA history. Everyone remembers where they were when they witnessed Carter in the dunk contest in 2000. That same year he dunked over 7’2 Fredric Weis in the Olympics which for my money is still the greatest in game dunk of all time. The memories Vince has given us sports fans will last for a very long time.
Nowadays Vince has embraced the “Uncle-Do-You-Know-How-I-Used-To-Ball-Back-In-My-Day guy on whatever team he is apart of. His days of playing above the rim are few and far between but ask anyone that has covered him, every time he speaks a wealth of knowledge and some pretty dope stories are soon to follow.
As crazy as it sounds Vince might be just as good being the old veteran and pouring knowledge into these young ball players than he was at dunking a basketball in his prime. Anyone can work hard and become a Hall of Fame NBA player but Vince Carter has shown in his later years that he has a Hall of Fame personality to back up his playing stats and highlights.
Congrats on 25k Mr. Carter, thank you for letting us share in your special moment.
Hawksbeat 