Monday, January 11, 2010

Melo in a hurry to help on court

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The court at Arco Arena looks like all the others, with its hardwood and stripes and such. But there's something about this place that has haunted the Nuggets the past fortnight, be it Carmelo Anthony's painful knee injury or two painful losses to the Kings, who are under .500 and without their top scorer.

So it was on this court, following Denver's 102-100 loss Saturday, that Anthony made a proclamation of sorts. Asked about playing tonight against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center, Melo said: "Yeah, man. I got to come back."

Anthony anticipates he will play, his first time since Dec. 28 at Sacramento, when he bruised his right knee (by bumping it against an old friend, Donte Greene). And while the Nuggets went 3-2 in that stretch, including wins over Utah and Cleveland, as Chauncey Billups said: "He's our No. 1 option, so it goes without saying what he does for our offense — he does everything. I think teams play us a little differently when he's not playing, because they know they don't have the one guy who can score 30, 40 points at any given time. So there's a difference when you're playing without him."

Anthony is averaging 30 points per game, and while guys such as Kenyon Martin have thrived offensively with more touches, the fact is the Nuggets (23-14) are 19-5 when Anthony, Billups, Martin and Nene are all in the lineup.

Asked what's missing without him, Anthony said: "Just somebody they can go to down the stretch. My presence is big out there."

Denver's two losses during Anthony's absence were by three points to Philadelphia and by two to the Kings. His big presence might have drawn an extra defender or opened up a space just wide enough for a teammate to squeeze through.

Anthony worked out on the court before Saturday's game, taking shots and bouncing around the perimeter. He said the knee felt better than it had in previous days.

George Karl said in the pregame workout that "it looks like his face is more confident in his leg," and the Denver coach also praised Anthony's teamwork in the forward's time off, saying, "I think Melo trusts our team. Melo has stayed involved, and I think there's a maturation of confidence throughout the team, because of Joey (Graham) playing well and us winning tough games against good teams. He participates in practice, he's in the locker room, he's talking on the bench. Sometimes guys when they're hurt, you can't even find them."

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