Carmelo Anthony knew he had done something wrong before the ball he threw in frustration Saturday accidentally hit a girl sitting in the first row of the baseline during Denver’s victory over Miami. Tuesday the Nuggets forward learned the consequences – a $5,000 fine from the NBA.
“I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “I was waiting for the fine, waiting for the consequences of things. I’ll take the fine. It was my fault.”
Anthony, who said he was surprised he was not tossed from the game for throwing the ball, spoke to the girl briefly at halftime.
“I told her I was sorry, I was frustrated,” he said. “She responded back and said, ‘We all get frustrated at times.”‘
Talking about practice
Nuggets coach George Karl admitted no coach is ever completely satisfied, but he reiterated a desire to get more out of practices.
“Sometimes I think our team is not competitive enough, but most of the time I think we are,” he said. “One thing I would like for them is to get more professional. I think our team has got to get more serious about practice, a professionalism of more focus in the days off, in the days that we don’t play, to get better. We’ve had so few practices because of schedule or injuries, I think right now I’m feeling a little bit nervous that our professional habits on days off need to get better.”
What could have been
With his sharp eye, Atlanta guard Salim Stoudamire looked like a near-lock to be a first- round pick this summer. But he dropped to the second round, passed by most teams, including Denver, which has first-rounders Linas Kleiza and Julius Hodge.
“I get motivation from playing any team that had a selection in the first round,” Stoudamire said. He is shooting 42.4 percent from 3-point range in 59 tries. The closest Nugget who regularly shoots 3s was Earl Watson at 31.6 percent (6-for-19) .
Karl called Stoudamire “explosive,” but said, “With Earl (Boykins), I didn’t think we needed another shoot-first point guard.”
Footnotes
Nuggets center Francisco Elson (right foot infection) missed his second straight game, though Karl expects him to play Friday in Miami. Atlanta forward Josh Smith sat out, serving the first game of his two-game suspension for a hard foul on Phoenix’s Raja Bell. … Karl, on Ruben Patterson, the disgruntled Portland forward hoping to land with a new team: “Anytime you talk about Ruben, you talk about a competitor. I like competitive people.” … Nene met with team doctor Steve Traina on Monday to examine his surgically repaired right knee. “Everything’s good,” trainer Jim Gillen said of the Nuggets forward. “His progress will start picking up now.”
