Before Monday night’s game, Nuggets coach George Karl scrapped with words on behalf of his short-handed bunch. He refused to entertain questions about how difficult the task ahead was against one of the NBA’s best teams.
During the game, his short- handed bunch scrapped for him.
But in the end, Phoenix was simply better.
Despite the first career triple- double from Carmelo Anthony (31 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), the Suns outlasted the Nuggets 113-108 at the Pepsi Center, and did so without MVP candidate guard Steve Nash during the second half, when he sat out with a shoulder injury.
“We aren’t in a right state of mind,” Nuggets guard J.R. Smith said. “When you’re losing games like this, you can’t be in a right state of mind. As a team, we have to regroup and play together all the time.”
Denver dropped to 13-13 at the Pepsi Center, 23-23 overall, and 7 1/2 games behind Northwest Division-leading Utah. It also was the sixth loss in the past seven games for the Nuggets, who played without guard Allen Iverson for the fourth straight game and center Marcus Camby (groin strain), who said he doubted he would be ready to play Wednesday against New Orleans.
“I’ll pay for a win,” Anthony said. “Any amount. Tell me the price. Make that the headline.”
Effort was never a problem. Discipline, which is where Phoenix banks on opponents breaking down, became a bigger problem throughout the second half.
“When you play a great team, it’s hard to have holes,” Karl said. “I thought my team played hard, and with passion. We needed to play 48 minutes against them, and we probably only played 38.”
The Nuggets ran with control in the first half, and attacked the rim with 32 points in the paint. Anthony led Denver to a 60-51 halftime lead with a near triple-double.
The Suns, however, rallied despite not having Nash, the reigning two-time league MVP, and improved to 38-10, one game behind the Dallas Mavericks for the NBA’s best record. Amare Stoudemire scored 15 points in the third quarter and the Suns turned a 67-57 Nuggets lead into a 72-69 advantage with a 15-2 run. The Nuggets obliged with a loss of aggressiveness, opting to take more jump shots.
“We stopped driving the ball,” Smith said. “Everybody started shooting jump shots. The first half we were aggressive, we got the lead. Second half, we started shooting jumpers.”
Phoenix held off Denver in the fourth quarter, when Nene scored 13 of his career- high 27 points. Smith rounded out three Nuggets in double figures with 18 points, including three 3-pointers.
The Suns rode the back of Stoudemire, who finished with a game-high 36 points and 13 rebounds. Playing major second-half minutes in place of Nash, Leandro Barbosa had 20 points – 12 in the fourth quarter.
Tired of losing, Anthony made a promise.
“I’m going to put the next five games on me, to win these games,” Anthony said. “Do whatever I have to do to go out there and win the basketball game.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
Melo’s triple-double
In 30 previous games this season, Carmelo Anthony had yet to produce a double-double. Monday against Phoenix, he bypassed that with his first career triple-double:
(Pts. Reb. Ast.)
Monday 31 10 10
*Season avg. 31.0 5.7 3.9
*High game 42 9 8
* Entering Monday’s game
