Atlanta Hawks: Vince Carter Hits 25,000 Points in Loss to Raptors

On a night in which the Atlanta Hawks got clobbered 124-108, there is really only one takeaway from this game… one Vince Carter.

For the Atlanta Hawks, signing Vince Carter was a great decision solely for the pomp and circumstance of Carter scoring his 25,000th career point against his former team – the most famous and memorable time of his career – on the Hawks home court this evening against the Raptors.

Much of the buildup to this game from local media revolved around Carter’s quest to reach 25,000 points. While these counting stats, especially round numbers such as 25,000 are quite arbitrary, there is no question that Vince has earned every one of those points as one of the best players in NBA history.

To see all of that history come to a head on the floor for the Atlanta Hawks, especially this iteration of the Hawks that is chock-full of rookies and second-year players, was amazing.

There were very few actual in-game takeaways to expose for this contest, as the Hawks where thoroughly outplayed by their counterparts – especially when comparing starters to starters.

But the Atlanta Hawks telecast made sure to highlight Carter’s quest with a “Carter Counter” expressing his total career points as he crept ever higher on the scoring list all night, including this nifty pump-fake triple in the 3rd quarter:

Late in the 4th quarter, as the game got out of hand for the Hawks, the proceedings devolved into a “get the ball to Vince” show, which was actually a lot of fun to watch, and also led to this sweet yet inconsequential ball movement from the team in the 4th:

In hilarious fashion, Vince hoisted up multiple threes in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, and he finished the night 2 of 7 from long distance in his efforts to achieve the feat. It wasn’t until time had almost expired that Vince captured some of that old magic from his trademark Raptors days and rose up for a two-handed slam to collect his 25,000th and 25,001st points of his storied career with .5 left on the game clock. Legendary stuff.

While it was technically an Atlanta Hawks loss, the team and NBA legend Vince Carter won the night, as the Hawks Twitter account eloquently put it:

Vince Carter might be here in the twilight of his career, but you know what? I don’t care. Seeing “Old Man Vince” get up for a dunk to notch a career milestone brought a damn tear to my eye, and if you think the Hawks’ force-feeding him in the 4th to reach the achievement was shameful, then I frankly don’t want to know you.

Signing Vince Carter was a great decision for the Atlanta Hawks organization, simply in order to bask, as a franchise, in the career achievements of a player who opted to sign with this team, when he could’ve easily gone ring-chasing in Golden State or some other playoff contender.

He seems happy to mentor these young Hawks, and we’re happy to have him.

We salute you, Vinsanity. Cheers to 25,000!