MIAMI — Each season, Denver’s Carmelo Anthony plays a few circle-the-calendar games against fellow 2003 draftees.
Melo versus LeBron.
Melo versus D-Wade.
Melo versus Darko.
Well tonight at 5:30, Anthony makes his lone regular-season appearance in Miami, where he’ll battle the electric Dwyane Wade, he of the 2008-09 NBA scoring title (30.2). Entering tonight, it’s Anthony who averages more points this season — 32 points per game, compared to Wade’s 29.2 – but both are leading their teams to the top of the division.
As for Wade, he’s coming off the best game of his season: 40 points in 42 minutes Wednesday against Washington. Wade was 14-for-26 from the field and also tallied five assists for the 4-1 Heat, a fascinating team that only has two players with contracts for next season.
As for defending Wade, “You got to give him a lot of bodies, because he’s tough and he’ll have the ball most of the time,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said at today’s shootaround. “You’ve got to put two on him at all times.”
Billups also said that Denver’s defense, when played at a high level, can be a weapon because it fuels the offensive transition.
“That’s key for us,” he said, “because a fast-breaking team like us, playing defense, getting rebounds and steals, that’s a big, big part of our mojo, of what we do.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
