George Karl pushed and prodded the Nuggets to speed up the game.
“We can push it faster,” the Denver coach said.
The Nuggets already were leading the league in scoring, so how much faster could they go? Denver found another gear in a 140-129 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.
It’s the most points the Nuggets have scored since a 140-122 win over the Sacramento Kings on March 29, 1991.
Golden State had not given up that many points since surrendering 143 against Portland on Jan. 26, 1993.
“It (felt) like a recreation game,” Carmelo Anthony said. “You’re just out there running. You score and they come back down and score, keep going back and forth.”
Anthony and J.R. Smith provided a solid 1-2 punch for Denver.
Anthony had 30 points – he’s scored 30 or more in eight of his past nine games – and Smith added 31, including four 3-pointers.
“We’ve gotten to know each other. We’re like twins,” Smith said.
The emergence of Smith has taken the pressure off Anthony. He doesn’t feel like he has to carry the scoring load by himself.
“I’m trying to find him,” Anthony said. “I’m trying to get everyone involved early in the game.”
Defense was definitely optional in this game. Neither side had many stops.
“This was unheard of,” Warriors guard Jason Richardson said. “This was depressing.”
The loss spoiled a career-high 31 points for Andris Biedrins.
“I like the 31 points,” he said. “I like winning better. We just played really bad defense.”
The Nuggets didn’t play much better on the defensive end and know a lecture from Karl is waiting.
“The offense we’re playing right now, I think we can be (a great) team,” Anthony said. “With the defense, we can’t.”
Anthony was handed a stat sheet after the game and studied it, shaking his head in admiration. The stats weren’t from Denver’s game, but Allen Iverson’s 46-point outburst against Chicago.
“Not a bad game,” Anthony said, looking at Iverson’s numbers.
Anthony still leads the league in scoring – barely. He’s averaging 30.9 and Iverson has a 30.4-point average. That wasn’t on his mind after the game, though.
“We almost had 150 points, that’s impressive,” he said. “I’ve never done that before. You can’t get mad at the win.”
