<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Melo and Nene are together again, apart, in a Tale of Two Nuggets. The allies in April are enemies in August. When we last saw Carmelo Anthony and Nene playing in concert in Denver, they were on the same front line combining for 31 points and 13 rebounds in the Nuggets' playoff loss to San Antonio. On Sunday night the two - separated not at birth, but at tipoff - had 29 points and 15 rebounds as the United States blew out Brazil in the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. You can blame it on Melo, not Rio. Anthony has been the most distinguished player for the U.S. (or us). Nene has been an undistinguished player for Brazil (them). What we care about is the North American and the South American combining somewhere next April ... and May ... and June. According to Nuggets coach George Karl, a spectator at Sunday's game, Anthony has been great, and Nene has not been in great shape. Anthony has been the leading scorer and rebounder for the U.S.; Nene has not scored or rebounded much. Anthony was the No. 1 scorer for this country in the world championships last year. Nene, who had not played for his country in international competition for four years (mostly because of a dispute over insurance in case of injury), joined Brazil two weeks before the FIBA championships in Las Vegas. The Nuggets need them even more than their nations, to be frank. Last season Anthony appeared in 65 games, Nene 64, for different reasons. Carmelo was suspended for 15 games for his (punching) part in the ugly brawl against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Nene was coming back from an ugly knee injury in the first game of 2005. He didn't play the rest of that season and was hurting some last season, which he began overweight. In the 2007-08 season Melo has to stay out of suspension trouble; Nene has to stay out of foul trouble and out of the hospital and the cafeteria. When Nene and Anthony are at the top of the rim and the top of the key and the top of their games - with Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby - the Nuggets are a thing of beauty, if not quite gorgeous enough to defeat the Spurs in a postseason series. In a late regular-season victory over Sacramento, Nene finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, and Anthony had 31, 8 and 4. We tend to forget that Nene and Melo are puppies. Anthony turned 23 in May, and Nene will be 25 in September. Both have long-term contracts and will be with us for quite a while. This season cannot be another work in progress. It has to be an advance in the playoffs. Although Anthony is one of the premier small forwards in the game, U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski has started him in the tournament at power forward. Not a bad idea. On a team of all- and super stars Carmelo is outscoring and outrebounding everybody else. And the Duke coach says he has been a stronger post player than everybody else. After last season Karl said Anthony had to develop more confidence in his 3-point shooting. In the tournament's first five games he made 11-of-18 from beyond the arc. The Nuggets are desperate for another long-distance shooter. Maybe they've found him. Nene hasn't fit in yet with the Brazilians, and he apparently doesn't fit in his practice shorts yet. The other night he did give an opponent a grimacing look after a scrum, and Nene chased down a loose ball, grabbed it like a baseball and smashed into the scorer's table. The Nuggets are desperate for someone to be tougher inside. Maybe they've found him. Phoenix guard Leandro Barbosa talked Nene into playing. Anthony talked LeBron James into playing. </div> Source: Denver Post
