Just in case his ankle might somehow respond, Nuggets guard Allen Iverson put on practice shorts, groaned while putting on shoes and headed to the practice court to run and cut to determine whether he was officially out for Monday night’s game against Phoenix.
He was.
Iverson sat, missing his fourth consecutive game.
“I’m going to try to go Wednesday,” Iverson said about the Nuggets’ next game, against New Orleans. “I didn’t think it was going to be that bad, because I kept playing on it (Jan. 29 against Charlotte). But after the game and the next day, I knew there was something wrong.”
The Nuggets have sorely missed Iverson’s 29 points per game. They have averaged 97.3 points in his absence, well below the 105 the Nuggets have put up for the season. Still, Iverson said he will not return until he has healed.
“I don’t feel good,” Iverson said. “But I won’t try to rush back, because I think that would hurt it more if I try to rush back and hurt it worse and have it go on for the rest of the season.”
He said he’s surprised at how long the injury has persisted.
“I knew what I did,” Iverson said. “I knew that I rolled it. I played through it, and the next morning I knew it was going to be sore, but I didn’t know it was going to be this way.”
A.I., on Melo
Iverson has made the Western Conference all-star team. The jury is still out on Carmelo Anthony.
The Nuggets’ star forward is among a few players awaiting NBA commissioner David Stern’s all-star selections to replace injured players Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Utah’s Carlos Boozer.
Iverson said he talked to Anthony about the initial snub.
“I just told him to keep his head,” Iverson said. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it’s something that God doesn’t want in his career.”
Footnotes
Coach George Karl’s son, Coby, was a guest in the Nuggets’ locker room Monday. … Center Marcus Camby missed Monday’s game because of a strained groin. He is listed as day to day. … Anthony was given a trophy before the game for his award as USA Basketball player of the year.
