PORTLAND, Ore. — All these years, and George Karl had never seen anything like it. Kenyon Martin always plays tough defense, as seen on display Monday and Tuesday against Portland, but in Monday’s game, “(Portland) would call a play, we’d tell them the play from the bench, and Kenyon would go and take that guy. . . . He took responsibility, he wanted the guy. I’ve seen coaches orchestrate that, but I’ve never seen a player orchestrate that.”
Martin, the Nuggets’ power forward, has played such brilliant defense this season that Karl said, “if statistically, we would end the season where we are defensively now, I think he’d have to get recognition as an all-defensive player.”
Melo mending.
Bill Duffy, an agent representing Carmelo Anthony, said Tuesday the Nuggets forward would rather play than sit out a week with a right elbow bruise.
“He’s against sitting out. There’s no question,” Duffy said. “It’s because he’s a competitor. He wants to win, and he wants to be what he can be out there. So, this wasn’t his idea by any means. But sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.”
Anthony will likely rest Friday and return possibly Sunday at New York. Duffy saw Anthony in Phoenix last Saturday, and felt that Anthony should “shut it down” for a short while, following a painful 10-point performance — similarly painful to watch.
“Certainly he’s not hurting himself by resting it,” Duffy said. “When you have something like that and you continue to bang it and hit it, it further irritates it. So if he has a good week or seven days without contact and rest and rehabilitation, I think you’re giving yourself a better chance for it to heal.”
A happy holiday.
Karl said the Nuggets will take off today and Christmas, returning to the court Friday morning for a shootaround, the day they host Philadelphia. Asked if he’s getting soft, Karl smiled and said: “There’s no question. And if I’ve been soft in the past, it’s been around Christmas time.”
Benjamin Hochman and Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
