Last Wednesday, Carmelo Anthony disappeared in the first half. Saturday, Anthony disappeared in the second half. And Sunday, the all-star was present, all right, conspicuously missing jumpers all night.
Against Portland on Sunday, Anthony was 6-for-17 from the field, missing 6-of-8 shots from 8 feet or farther. Moreover, Anthony has turned over the ball five times in each of the past three games.
What’s up with Melo?
“The defenses, the zones, the blocks, the double-teams,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “We need to do better, find better answers for his touches, move him around better.
“Right now, getting Melo loose, more involved, better touches — it’s all our job and responsibility. Teams are playing us a certain way. It will be easier to counter that when (injured) Chucky (Atkins) or (benched) J.R. (Smith) or someone like that comes back on the court — and we start making the 3-ball. I want to help (Anthony). I think every coach on our staff wants to make it easier for him, because he’s so important for us.”
Interesting.
Only one team, Seattle, makes more turnovers per game than the Nuggets’ 16.5. But no team’s opponents make more turnovers than the Nuggets’ (19.3). Denver’s next game is Thursday against the Rockets, who commit 14.6 turnovers per game, ninth fewest in the NBA.
Gimme a second chance.
Five games this season, the Nuggets have allowed 20 or more second-chance points and, sure enough, the Nuggets are 1-4 in those games. It happened in Sunday’s home loss against Portland, when Denver allowed 22 second-chance points and 18 offensive rebounds, one off from an opponents’ season high.
“I think Kenyon (Martin), Eddie (Najera) and Marcus (Camby) are very effective, but tonight they got hurt a little bit,” Karl said after Sunday’s game.
The Nuggets had been doing a fairly good job of keeping teams from scoring on second chances. The most recent 20-plus game was against the Lakers, on Nov. 29 at Los Angeles. On Thursday, low-post beast Yao Ming comes to the Pepsi Center.
Footnotes.
Sunday against Portland was the first time an active J.R. Smith did not play. Karl cited his defense. Smith’s offense has been similarly depressing. Smith is shooting 28.9 percent from the field in December. The Nuggets allowed 116 points to Portland on Sunday. Denver is 0-6 in games when it allowed 110 or more points. Guard Mike Wilks, who played eight games for Denver before being waived, signed with the Wizards. Karl gave his team Monday off after back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday. The team will practice today and Wednesday, then shoot around Thursday before the 8:30 p.m. game against Houston, to be aired on TNT.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
