Carmelo Anthony had four fouls and zero free throws, slumped on the bench like a kid in the principal’s office. On the court, Denver led Portland by just three midway in the third quarter, and would be without Anthony until the fourth. This was it right? This would be where the Nuggets had an Avalanche-y collapse, fading like Will Smith’s haircut circa 1991.
Not at Pepsi Center. And not with Chauncey Billups back to playing like Chauncey Billups. In Denver’s 109-92 victory over Portland, Billups spearheaded the Melo-less third, scoring 10 points with three rebounds and three assists, and Denver entered the fourth up 11, its biggest lead of the night at that point.
With Denver losers of five of its past six games — and now just six games left — Thursday’s win was paramount. The Nuggets (49-27) are still in fifth, but have now rediscovered their swag, as Melo would say, heading into a winnable game Saturday against the Clippers.
The Nuggets did a lot of things right (for a change), notably sharing the basketball and scrapping on defense. Arron Afflalo, again, did a splendid job against Portland all-star Brandon Roy, who looked like Melo did in the Denver loss to Dallas on Monday.
Anthony spoke Wednesday about his frustration toward the officials. He hadn’t been getting calls, and the stats showed it (6.3 free throws in previous 10 game but 9.2 on the season). But on Thursday, nothing changed. Well, actually one thing changed — it was Melo who was committing fouls. With 7:47 left in the third, he went to the bench with his fourth foul (and third offensive!). And he had yet to attempt a free throw in 21 minutes.
But his teammates picked up the slack, something that fans hadn’t seen in quite awhile (even Denver’s lone win in the past six was an abysmal effort against Toronto, saved by a Melo buzzer-beater).
And this win came against the scorching TrailBlazers (46-30), who had won nine of their past 10 games. Yes, Portland played the night before, but its starters got plenty of rest, due to the blowout of the lowly Knicks.
As for Denver, it’s at its best when Nene: a) gets the ball consistently, and b) is consistently aggressive. Such was Thursday. Nene was nasty. He physically attacked defenders. He dashed down court in transition (and got some buckets because of it). He looked to score in both halves.
As for Billups, he finished with 21 points, a nice bounce-back from the three-field-goal night against Dallas. When he left the court with two minutes left, and the game in hand, the Pepsi Center crowd gave him a nice hand. Oh, it’s good to be home.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
