Anthony bullish after debut: 'Can't see us losing again soon'

Cole Anthony didn’t like being on minutes restriction but still put up 30 points in limited game time in his NBL debut and while it was a tight loss for Melbourne United, he can't see his team losing again any time soon.

A calf injury interrupted Anthony's preparations for his NBL debut on Saturday night, but what he showed in his 22 minutes of court time showed exactly why there's so much excitement over his signing.

At just 26 and having played 367 NBA games including a best season of 16.3 points, 5.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds with the Orlando Magic, he has the potential to be a new MVP challenger to Bryce Cotton and Kendric Davis, and did nothing to dispel that in his first appearance.

Even coming off the bench and playing just 21:50, Anthony delivered 30 points with 10/21 shooting from the field, 3/7 from downtown and 7/9 at the foul line in the two-point loss to the Adelaide 36ers.

He scored 13 points in the third quarter alone and also got a look at what would have been a game winner just before the buzzer.

It might not have been a winning NBL debut for Anthony, but based on what he saw from his team and with Shea Ili still to come in to join him in the back court, he can't see them losing again soon with the next challenge a Throwdown on Thursday night.

"I mean, I might be a little biased, but I don’t feel like we'll lose another game for a while," Anthony said.

"I'm gonna call it what it is and superstitions or not, God willing if we keep people healthy I think we're gonna be a heck of a team.

"We've just gotta keep getting more practices under our belt where we get everybody out there and obviously getting Shili back is going to be huge.

"He's someone that just affects the game in so many different ways and will help us on the defensive side.

"Yeah, we've got a really talented team and I'm excited to keep getting better. What we showed out there tonight was our floor and I only think we can go up from here."

Melbourne next takes on South East Melbourne in the Throwdown on Thursday, September 24, live on ESPN.