The team is on Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony’s mind.
“We’re still growing,” he said. “We’re like 5-(feet)-11 right now. We’re trying to get to 7-feet.”
But there is no denying the increasing overall impact Anthony is beginning to have on the Nuggets’ success. Though he did not make the all-star team, his numbers in the seven games before the break were of all-star quality.
Since returning Jan. 30 from missing 10 games with a fractured right hand, Anthony has averaged 24.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He is shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 82.9 percent from the free-throw line. All but the rebounds are above his season averages.
After Nuggets coach George Karl insisted his team wouldn’t have scored “70 points without him,” much less won a key game in Orlando last week, he notes that Anthony has stepped up his offensive productivity without losing his obligation to team play.
“What I think I see is, while he was away he saw the good stuff that we do,” Karl said. “I think he respects our team. He’s not forcing himself into the game. He’s kind of moving and fitting his way into the games.”
Anthony’s ability and willingness to fit into team concepts, offensively and defensively, have been his personal biggest story lines this season. He sacrificed scoring to expend more energy on defense, rebounding and in creating more opportunities for teammates. As a result, his assists are up this season and his points are down.
But Anthony seems to be finding a marriage between playing team basketball and scoring, while devoting himself to defense.
The difference has been at the free-throw line. Since he has been back, Anthony is averaging 10 free-throw attempts per game. He has shot more than 10 in four of the seven games — he had eight double-digit attempts all season before his return. He has averaged 8.3 points from the line alone in the seven games.
To put that into eye-opening perspective, Anthony is averaging more points from the free-throw line in that span than the season scoring averages of Chris Andersen (6.3), Dahntay Jones (6.0), Anthony Carter (5.8) and Renaldo Balkman (4.6).
Anthony, however, acknowledges his wish is to continue to take more of a leadership stake in the team, and he cautiously likes how the team is playing. The Nuggets have won nine of 11 games.
“We’re out to prove something,” Anthony said. “Still, to this day, regardless of our record, we still feel like we’re underdogs, and no one respects us. So we want to go out there and prove to everybody that we are a good team.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Denver at Philadelphia
5 p.m. tonight, ALT, KCKK 1510 AM
Spotlight on Thaddeus Young: With Elton Brand out for the season, other players, including Young, have been asked to raise their games. The second- year player from Georgia Tech has played well the entire season and is third on the current team in scoring (13.7 ppg) to go along with 4.9 rebounds and 1.25 steals per game.
Nuggets: Forward/center Chris Andersen practiced Tuesday and will play tonight. Andersen missed the Nuggets’ last game, at Orlando, with left wrist and left hip injuries. . . . The Nuggets have won two of the last three games against the 76ers in Philly. A win would be their first season sweep of Philadelphia since 2003-04. The Nuggets beat the Sixers 105-101 in Denver on Dec. 26.
Sixers: Rookie forward Marreese Speights turned up his play before the all-star break, averaging 16.3 points in his last three games, double his season average of 8.1 points. He’s shooting .677 (21-of-31) in that span and doing it efficiently, averaging just 20.7 minutes in those games. . . . Brand, who will miss the rest of the regular season after shoulder surgery, is expected to be back for the start of the 2009-10 season.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
