Anthony plays through migraine to lead Nuggets over RaptorsBy Michael Kelly For NBA.com
Posted Wednesday November 18, 2009 1:14AM
DENVER (NBA.com exclusive) -- If Carmelo Anthony plays this way with a migraine, the league better worry when the Nuggets' star if completely healthy.
Anthony battled a migraine most of Tuesday, but by game time he gave the Raptors headaches, scoring 32 points to lead Denver to a 130-112 win.
"He looked fine to me," guard Chauncey Billups said.
Anthony said he dealt with migraines in his first couple of years in the NBA but he hadn't had one in a couple of years. He woke up Tuesday morning feeling ill and tried to sleep it away.
He said he didn't consider sitting out.
"My legs could work," he said. "As long as I could run up and down that court, I was good."
Anthony did all of his damage in the first three quarters, going 12-for-15 from the field and picking apart the Raptors' defense when they doubled him. He scored nine points in the decisive third quarter when Denver took the lead for good.
"Tonight Melo was so good on the low block with his passing," Denver coach George Karl said.
It was the second straight game the Nuggets grabbed control in the third quarter, and they did it with defense. Toronto shot 51 percent in the first half and had only four turnovers, but Denver clamped down after intermission.
"They cranked it up with their defense in the second half and it made it a lot more difficult," Toronto coach Jay Triano said.
The Nuggets came into the game ranked sixth in the league in scoring, but they feel their defense is the key to winning this year.
"With the way that we can score the ball, 15 game minutes, 16 game minutes of good, solid defense is going to lead to us to have a comfortable lead most nights," Billups said.
It took less than three minutes of defense to put away Toronto. Leading 97-89 heading into the fourth, Denver went on a 9-0 run in the first 2:18 of the quarter to go up by 17 and remove drama from the game.
"We turned the ball over 10 times in the second half and that's what fuels their tempo and gets them up and down," Triano said.
Once they got their offense going, Toronto couldn't keep up. In addition to Anthony's 32, J.R. Smith scored 29 points in 22 minutes off the bench.
The high score brought comparisons to the days when Alex English and Dan Issel played for Denver.
"One of those Doug Moe games," Anthony said. "It ended in the third quarter, though. In the first half, we were trying to outscore them. We was going bucket for bucket. We got together at halftime and told each other we didn't want to play like that. In the third quarter, we played old Denver Nugget basketball, getting up and down the court in transition, playing defense .It was easy for us."
It didn't hurt Denver's cause that forward Hedo Turkoglu didn't suit up because of a left hip strain. Without him in the lineup the Nuggets could focus on Chris Bosh, who scored a season-low 13 points.
"Keeping Bosh under control was huge," Karl said. "Maybe they went away from him some, but it seemed like he never got a personality."
Bosh did pull down 14 rebounds to record his ninth double-double in 11 games this year, but he was effectively neutralized by Denver.
"They were physical on Chris Bosh, they were bumping him all night and he only got two free throws," Triano said.
Physical defense helped the Nuggets reached the Western Conference finals last season for the first time in 24 years, and they are using that blueprint this year. Giving up 112 points to a team ranked fifth in scoring won't bring comparisons to the Spurs and Pistons teams from earlier in the decade, but the Nuggets like what their defense gives them.
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