CLEVELAND — Not the Washington Wizards. Not the subzero wind chill in Cleveland.
Not the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nothing these days is slowing Carmelo Anthony. He is doing whatever he wants whenever he wants, and Sunday the injury-depleted Cavaliers did little to stop him during the Nuggets’ 113-83 rout at Quicken Loans Arena. Anthony’s 27 points and eight rebounds fueled the Nuggets’ third straight road win and first on this three-game trip before the all-star break.
“I think we caught them so banged up and beat up, the frustration of the game got into them,” Nuggets coach George Karl said of the Cavaliers. “They couldn’t make a shot. I think we had an easy game because we did some good things. It was one of those games that we can probably say we played well, but they probably were short-handed, too.”
“The Diff” is a feature on the Cavaliers’ scoreboard. It’s a box that displays the difference between the home team’s and road team’s score. It almost never was in the Cavaliers’ favor Sunday. At its worst, it read minus-37, which for the Nuggets was a good thing.
From start to finish, it was one of the Nuggets’ most complete performances of the season. There was no slow start that led to a frantic finish, no lull that let the opponent back into the game. The Nuggets’ lead just kept growing. Many fans who braved dangerously cold temperatures to get to the arena took the opportunity to return to the warmth of their homes, leaving at the end of the third quarter.
The Cavs, playing without Drew Gooden, Sasha Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao, shot just 34.4 percent. The crowd booed myriad bad plays by the home team.
“Defensively we were sound,” Karl said. “We didn’t have any holes or momentum swings.”
Anthony, meanwhile, sizzled. He scored 15 points in the first quarter, hitting 7-of-10 shots. He collected points every way possible. On early post-ups, tip-in baskets, fast-break dunks and a 3-pointer. You name it, Anthony did it. In the past two games, he has 76 points.
Anthony’s points Sunday were remarkably efficient. He hit 11-of-19 shots overall and all four of his free throws. The Nuggets led by so many points at the start of the fourth quarter that he never returned.
“Overall, it was one of the most complete games we’ve had from the standpoint of defense, taking our time on the offensive end, taking advantage of what the defense was giving us, passing the ball (and) limited turnovers tonight,” Anthony said.
Nuggets guard Allen Iverson contributed 25 points and 13 assists and didn’t commit a turnover. Karl called Iverson’s play of late “first class.”
J.R. Smith’s 18 points were the most for him since scoring 21 on Jan. 15 against Atlanta. Linas Kleiza added 10. Marcus Camby grabbed 17 rebounds.
The Cavs led 16-13 on an alley-oop dunk by LeBron James. The Nuggets responded with a 16-0 run that gave them a 29-16 lead.
James finished with 30 points and didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
“We jumped on them from the beginning,” Iverson said. “We took advantage of the shots they were missing and we got out and ran. We were just able to do everything right on both ends of the court tonight.”
MELO VS. LeBRON
With Sunday’s win, Carmelo Anthony is 8-2 in games against LeBron James since they entered the NBA in 2003. A look at the series:
2003-04: 2-0
2004-05: 1-1
2005-06: 1-1
2006-07: 2-0
2007-08: 2-0
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Before the game at Cleveland, Allen Iverson posed for a picture with a college-aged female Nuggets fan and gave her a pair of sneakers. The fan was so overcome by emotion at the gesture, she cried. . . . J.R. Smith scored more points in the first half (six) than he did in the previous two games combined (three). . . . Cleveland started 7-of-18 from the field.
Final thought
This was one of the more complete victories the Nuggets have had this season. It was solid in nearly every area, and a good way to start a short Eastern Conference road trip.
Up next
At Miami, Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
