Portland, Ore. – So what now?
Rest. And practice. And Melo. Yes, Melo.
The Nuggets don’t play another game until Friday, but rest assured, this is one of the team’s biggest weeks of the season.
On the agenda is practice. That’s right. We’re talking about practice – and lots of it. But never has this group looked forward to it this much. And that is mostly because Carmelo Anthony returns for full-time work, meaning at some point he’ll be placed on the same team with Allen Iverson, J.R. Smith, Steve Blake or whomever coach George Karl wants to get time playing together.
The Nuggets’ star forward has served 13 games of his 15-game suspension and makes his “debut” with the team in six days. To this point, he has been kept on opposite teams in practice while the players who were going to see game time during this stretch got used to one another.
But even then, Anthony impressed.
“He’s been good,” Karl said. “His individual workouts have been tremendous. The next three days are probably going to be the most important. In the next three days, we’ll probably have a half-a-game scrimmage, maybe more, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.”
On the opposite side of this four-day downtime is four games in five days, beginning with LeBron James and Cleveland on Friday at the Pepsi Center. The Nuggets travel to Houston to face the Rockets on Saturday, then return home for Anthony’s return game against Memphis on Monday. The Nuggets finish the stretch at Seattle on Tuesday.
Pretty much every game is pivotal for the Nuggets (18-17), who not only are 4 1/2 games behind slumping Utah for the Northwest Division lead but also trail Minnesota, which, on the strength of three straight victories, is 20-16 and only three games behind the Jazz.
Including the four-games-in-five-days stretch, 18 of the Nuggets’ next 24 games are against Western Conference competition, which means there isn’t much time or room for error when it comes to staying in the playoff picture. Denver is in the eighth playoff spot in the West.
So the Nuggets must get it together quickly. This week also should allow some beat-up players a chance to heal a bit. Iverson is battling a toe injury. Center Marcus Camby continues to play through a painful, but healing, broken hand. Forward Eduardo Najera has hamstring and shoulder injuries. Nene has a knee injury that is likely to limit his time and nag him the rest of the season. And so on.
“Hopefully guys can get healthy,” Camby said. “We’ve got a big end of the week coming up. … So our work is cut out for us at the end of this week.”
It also allows the newly acquired Blake to get comfortable with his teammates. Blake has been impressive in his first two games with the Nuggets, averaging 19 points and five assists and shooting 67 percent from both 2-point and 3-point range.
“He’s just out there making so many good decisions,” Iverson said. “Steve can score and can run the team. When you get a guy that can shoot like that, you just utilize him as much as you can. He’s just a good all-around player, period.”
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
