Depending on the flow of the game, tonight could be the return of guard Anthony Carter, who has missed the entire season because of a broken bone in his right hand.
“I’m ready,” Carter said following this morning’s shootaround.
Whether he plays remains to be seen.
“I don’t think about it a lot, I kind of know what my guys can do,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “The game kind of dictates my feelings and how I want to play, and we’ll make those decisions as the game happens.”
Meanwhile, the Nuggets will be without forward Linas Kleiza, who sprained his left ankle during Wednesday’s game at the Los Angeles Clippers. Karl said Kleiza will not return until Tuesday, meaning he will miss Saturday’s game at Houston.
Kleiza, who sprained the same ankle in the preseason, wore a walking boot Friday.
“Hopefully I’ll be back soon,” he said. “I stepped on a foot then and I stepped on a foot again. It’s just bad luck.”
Karl lamented not having Kleiza, who has moved up the list of importance on the Nuggets roster. Kleiza averages 10.3 points on 49 percent shooting this season.
“I think LK, in a very quiet way has moved into being one of our top six or seven players,” Karl said. “Anytime you lose a 25-minute player off your team it opens up the window of an opportunity for some other guys to get minutes, but I think we’ll miss LK. I think there will be moments out there that we’ll be saying, ‘Wish we had LK.’ ”
Footnote. Carmelo Anthony did not attend today’s shootaround, which was not mandatory. Forward Kenyon Martin was absent as well. He stayed in Los Angeles over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
