Where we have already seen Jamal Musiala's celebration

Jamal Musiala is a phenom. If there were still any doubts about it, the Bayern Munich’s player has blown them away with a series of outstanding performances with Germany during Euro 2024. A high level of performances where he matched a remarkable understanding of the game together with an even more great technique. Musiala is probably the player who more than any other remembers Zinedine Zidane for the way he plays, for the way he swings while dribbling past his opponent, a ballet where he puts his defender out his rhythm. To all of that, you have to add the quickness in reading the game situations: does he have to accelerate or stop? Does he have to progress in the play or does he have to slow down? Does he have to pass the ball or try to shoot? And when he does shoot, Musiala shoots really well: frequently his shots are on target and therefore he scores a lot. And after a goal at Euro 2024 Musiala celebrated with a gesture that we have seen hundreds if not thousands of times on an NBA court. That’s because Musiala has celebrated like Carmelo Anthony did.

Throughout his career, Musiala has been mainly associated with a celebration, namely the one that accompanied his rise with Bayern Munich’ shirt: an M gesture with the fingers in favor of the camera. At Euro 2024, however, he changed and when he scored against Hungary he decided to put three fingers to his temple and tap them repeatedly. This is the "three to the dome", a celebration that Carmelo Anthony made iconic during his time with the New York Knicks. Every time he scored a three-pointer, Anthony used to raise three fingers to the temple three times. A surprising choice on Musiala's part but not entirely unexpected. In fact, Musiala is a massive NBA fan, he confirmed it himself in an interview for GQ in which he stated that he is a Golden State Warriors fan and that he follows the season on a daily basis.

The real curiosity, if anything, is linked to the fact that in reality this celebration is not a creation of Carmelo Anthony, but as told by Iman Shumpert, Anthony "stole" it from its true creator, Rasheed Wallace. Wallace said that the genesis of this celebration dates back to 2010 when he played for the Boston Celtics, he was looking for a fun gesture to repeat on the occasion of a three-pointer and in the end he came with the gimmick of the three fingers to the temple because, to his words: “It’s three points. Take that to the head”. Wallace, however, was forced to interrupt the celebration by the orders of the NBA as the league was frightened by the idea that this celebration could be interpreted as a gun pointed at the head with the trigger being pulled. That celebration remained frozen until 2012 when Wallace, now a Knicks player and Anthony's teammate, put three fingers to his temple after making his first basket. The Athletic also reports that Wallace used to repeat this gesture even in training when he challenged Carmelo Anthony, who then decided to bring that gesture on the court and effectively won ownership. Until Musiala used it.