Carmelo Anthony woke up as tired as he was when he went to bed, his mattress pulling him down as if he were in quicksand.
Finally, the exhausted Anthony escaped Wednesday morning, but on his way to the Pepsi Center, he “felt no energy at all,” needing IV fluids for hydration after a shootaround. At noon, he looked like he didn’t even have enough energy to play Oklahoma City in a video game.
But by game time, “the juices kicked in,” he said after his 30-point effort in Denver’s 119-90 rout of the Thunder, which was playing the second game of a back-to-back.
“I think it was just me having some energy to do what I do on the court,” said Anthony, who had subpar games on Sunday and Monday, both Denver losses. “My first step is real important to my game. When I can’t do that, it’s hard for me to do anything. So for me to find that rhythm really helped me out.”
Anthony made just seven field goals in each of those two losses, but by halftime he was 8-for-11, a prelude to Denver’s demolition of a third quarter. The Nuggets outscored the Thunder 31-12 with the same zeitgeist the Suns had against Denver is the ghastly second quarter Monday.
“We didn’t expect to beat them like that,” said Anthony, whose team led the Thunder by as many as 41 points.
Denver’s defense had been slipshod of late but held the Thunder to 32.5 percent from the field, the lowest an opponent has shot all season.
Offensively, Denver (40-21) passed the ball “exceptionally well” and with a “togetherness,” coach George Karl said. The Nuggets had 30 assists, including 12 by reserve Anthony Carter, filling in for injured Ty Lawson (shoulder, questionable for Friday).
In order to beat the Thunder (36-24), Karl knew Denver had to throw the kitchen sink at Kevin Durant (and maybe the bathroom sink too).
Here’s what the Nuggets did — they switched big men on Durant when he was in the low post, they disrupted him on pick-and-rolls by throwing two guys at him, and any time he began a dribble, a help defender crept into his path.
“We wanted to make him do things he was not used to doing,” Karl said. “He seemed to be a little bit frozen by the switching we did.”
Durant scored just 19 points, nearly 10 fewer than his average, and he was limited to 5-for-14 from the field. The last game he hit five-or-fewer field goals was Dec. 16. He made just one field goal in the pivotal third quarter — the only one that quarter by a Thunder starter.
All night, Denver manned the low post like a team of Dikembe Mutombos. The Thunder scored only 18 points in the paint. Seven different Nuggets blocked a shot. Chris Andersen was exquisite. After sitting out the second half on Monday because of knee pain, the Birdman was back, flying around like a hawk, blocking four shots, while scoring 13 points (7-for-7 on free throws) with seven rebounds.
When it was all over, Anthony was asked if he was ready for bed.
“Yeah!” he said with a smile, and the all-star headed home, where the bed was no longer the enemy.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Arron Afflalo sprained his left thumb and is day to day. . . . Reserve forward Renaldo Balkman saw his first action since Dec. 8.
Final thought
Good teamwork on Kevin Durant and passing the ball led to a good team performance.
Up next
Friday vs. Indiana, 7 p.m.
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
