Vince Carter joins 25K NBA club with dunk against Raptors



[ad_1]

It could not have been better written.

Wednesday night, in his 1423rd regular season game, Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks amassed the 25,000th point of his career against Toronto – the city where it all started for the legendary NBA.

And, in the classic VC fashion, he did it with a huge dunk.

Carter, 41, in the 21 st season, was a turning point when the Hawks picked up an offensive rebound. His team-mate Kevin Huerter gave him a quick pass and he threw a snap as the last minute of the match. checked off.

With Carter at 24,999 points and the game out of reach for Atlanta, the three paint Raptors were class-leading, allowing the All Star eight times to fly unhindered to the edge.

He just became the 22nd player in the history of the NBA to cross the cap.

Entering the competition, he had 13 points ahead of the mark and recorded four balls at half-time on two-on-four shots on the field. He added three points in the third quarter, leaving him six places out of 25,000 with 12 minutes remaining.

Late in the fourth, he hit a three pointer and two free throws to set up the historic moment.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = ""To be part of this list … is something that they can not take away," Carter said before the game. "I am grateful to be able to continue playing this game long enough to have the chance to reach such a goal.""data-reactid =" 26 ">"To be part of this list … is something that they can not take away," Carter said before the game. "I am grateful to be able to continue playing this game long enough to have the chance to reach such a goal."

The former Toronto Raptor became the 22nd player in NBA history to reach 25,000 career points with a last-second dunk against his former team. (Getty)

After being selected by the Golden State Warriors, fifth overall in the NBA in 1998, he was sent to Toronto and immediately made an impact. The Raptors were in their infancy as an NBA franchise and Carter was the type of player the team needed to create their fan base.

Carter's first season Raptors finished with a 23-27 record, good for tenth place in the Eastern Conference, but VC was electric. He earned an average of 18.3 points and was named rookie of the year 1998-99 for his efforts.

During his six plus seasons on the team, he dropped his jaws with his hit dunks and sensational athleticism. And Toronto will never forget his game en route to his first playoff win in the history of the franchise in 2001, a seven-game thriller against the New York Knicks.

In his recent interview on Inside the Green Room, Raptors super fan Nav Bhatia spoke about his memories of Carter and his lasting impact on the franchise.

"Canadians owe a lot to VC 15," said Bhatia. "He brought us into the world of basketball, you know … We lasted here because Vince was there at the right time for us."

Almost secondary to this story, the Raptors won the game 124-108. They improved to 15-4 while the Hawks fell to 3-15.

Subscribe to the Danny Green podcast

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "More coverage of the NBA on Yahoo Sports"data-reactid =" 64 ">More coverage of the NBA on Yahoo Sports

<figure class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "
"data-reactid =" 65 ">

[ad_2]
Source link