New York – The Nuggets relished their chance to shine at the self-proclaimed World’s Most Famous Arena against the sports world’s most bloated payroll Monday.
Denver’s easy 108-96 victory over New York had players and coaches talking about playing – and winning – at Madison Square Garden in reverential tones.
“I love playing in the Garden. This is the best arena in the world to play in. They have such loyal fans out there. They gave me a great ovation when I came in. It’s always good to see a lot of familiar faces. These ball boys were here when they were little kids. Now they’re all grown up and married with children,” said ex-Knick Marcus Camby, perhaps exaggerating the time since his 2002 departure.
Coach George Karl could think of few places besides on the road in the playoffs where he would rather win.
“Great setting, isn’t it?” he asked.
Small forward Carmelo Anthony played his first college game with Syracuse here against Memphis in 2002. So his 35 points on 13-for-21 shooting came as no surprise to the announced crowd, which sold out The Garden despite the Knicks’ hopelessness. That gave him a two-night total of 71, including Sunday night’s loss at Boston.
“Things are starting to work inside-out,” he said. “I’m making a conscious effort to start out on the inside and move to the outside. My jump shot’s been feeling good the last couple of games. Once that’s feeling good, it opens up a lot for me.”
Between Anthony’s offense and a third quarter in which Denver held its hosts to 15 points, the Nuggets (36-29) built a 21-point lead, which left room for a bit of sloppiness in the fourth quarter. Camby contributed 18 rebounds, five blocked shots and 10 points to provide the foundation.
“I thought Marcus’ presence around the basket and in the paint was dominating,” Karl said.
Denver won for the third time in four games, all on the road. Andre Miller, Earl Boykins and Eduardo Najera also hit double figures in scoring. The league-worst Knicks (17-45) went without regular Eddy Curry, who had a stomach virus, as well as any apparent passion. Stephon Marbury led the team with the $125 million payroll with 25 points.
The Nuggets take today off after surviving an exhausting stretch. But players were not congratulating themselves for their strong recent play.
“We’re not too satisfied,” forward Reggie Evans said. “Coach has kind of been getting on us, saying that we’re still not really playing Denver Nugget basketball, which is true.”
Still, Karl said he could sense the team starting to catch a bit of “playoff fever.”
Asked if he felt his team is climbing into a higher gear, Anthony replied: “I hope so. Tonight I think we were a little fatigued, but we overcame that. We kept our composure down the stretch when they made their little run.”
Now 4 1/2 games in front of idle Utah in the Northwest Division, the Nuggets have actually gained ground on the Jazz since their trip began. And as a bonus, Anthony gets to leave New York with a pro memory to match his college one.
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
