Crossroads #1: Will he be an all-out shooter or will he reduce shooting to increase assists and rebounds? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Where Have You Gone A.I.? By Travis Heath Allen Iverson doesn't like missing basketball games which should tell you a little something about just how sore his sprained right ankle really is. As of today, Iverson has missed four consecutive games, although the team is hopeful that he may be able to return to action on Wednesday against the Hornets. In the meantime, the Nuggets are trying to pick up the pieces and figure out what exactly has gone wrong over the course of the past week. "I think we're missing our personality a little bit without (Iverson)," Karl said after Monday night's loss. "I believe my players can make up things, but our attack mode . . . it just doesn't seem like we attack the defense like I want. I want the team to be constantly going at the defense." Karl isn't the only one who has missed Iverson's presence. Without A.I., Carmelo Anthony has been left to once again carry the scoring load largely by himself. When asked how much he's missed Iverson after getting a little five game taste of playing with him before the injury, Anthony responded: "A lot, man. When I was playing with him I wasn't seeing as many double and triple teams. Now, I'm going back to the old days. Hopefully we can get him back, get Camby back, get our whole team back and get back on track." While losing is never preferred in professional sports, perhaps this four game stretch without Iverson has helped teach Melo that it's hard to win basketball games by himself, and that leaning on Iverson a little bit offensively might not be such a bad thing in the long run. The First of Many? On last Thursday's TNT broadcast Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and company were taking some shots at Anthony for not yet securing a single double-double on the season. Well, Melo must have been listening as he notched his first career triple-double against one of the NBA's best teams on Monday. Karl has long been calling for Anthony to improve his all around game, and while he was happy with the performance of his superstar against the Suns, he hopes Melo's first triple-double won't be his last. "I hope that's one of many. Melo is the type of guy that can get a triple-double every night. If he just continues to trust the pass and let the game play and flow and commit to rebounding, he could do that on a weekly basis I think. He's a special talent and a playmaker. He loves to score and he's a great scorer, but I think we need him to drift towards being a playmaker rather than a scorer." "It's always good to get your first," Anthony said of the triple-double. "Somebody asked me before the game how many triple-doubles I've had and I told them none. I can at least say I got one now." Some might be asking what's the big deal? Who cares if Melo gets triple-doubles? It's not the numbers themselves which are important, but rather what the numbers represent. Throughout the course of his career Anthony has too often been a one-dimensional player. What a triple-double signifies is that Melo may finally be starting to understand the importance of developing an all around game. "Tonight I came into the game with the mindset of not trying to go out there and do it all myself," Anthony explained. "I tried to get my teammates involved. I tried to get them some confidence." When asked if Nugget fans should expect to see triple-doubles on a regular basis, Anthony replied: "Hopefully. Tonight my teammates were making shots. I think I did a great job of kicking the ball out of the double team, not trying to force anything and just took what they were giving me." Anthony is still just 22-years-old and has a lot of time to shape and mold his legacy. So what will it be, Melo? An all around player and winner like Michael Jordan or a one-dimensional scoring act ala Dominique Wilkins? Hopefully for Nugget fans, Monday's performance was a sign of things to come. Taxicab Confessions You don't usually see multimillion dollar athletes utilizing public transportation. Guess Melo isn't exactly your typical athlete. When asked if he had gotten his car repaired after Friday's accident with teammate J.R. Smith behind the wheel, Anthony jokingly responded: "No, man. I'm catching cabs. I caught a cab to the arena tonight. "What's the name of it? Yellow Cab," Melo inquired. The young businessman then quickly put on his best endorsement face and said with a smile: "Yellow Cab, 333-3333." Ah yes . . . another day, another Carmelo Anthony endorsement. </div> Source
The second crossroads: Will he help lead the Nuggets to the playoffs or not? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Anthony Looking to Carry Nuggets The forward is on a mission to get the team back on winning track By Chris Dempsey Carmelo Anthony, left, and Allen Iverson (Post file)Carmelo Anthony's latest stated goal is to assume control of a Nuggets train that is falling off the tracks. "Because we haven't been winning," Anthony said. "I put the pressure on me. I like when the pressure's on my shoulders." Anthony singled out the next five games leading into the all-star break as games the forward hopes to put the Nuggets on his back. He did so after the loss to Phoenix on Monday night, and again Tuesday after the team's practice. Denver has lost six of its past seven games, slipping to .500 (23-23) and has been overtaken by the Los Angeles Clippers, bumping the Nuggets to eighth in the Western Conference playoff race. Nuggets coach George Karl smiled when he heard Anthony's frustration had risen to a level where he vowed to do something about it. "Good," Karl said. "Because he has a lot of control of that." For all of the good Anthony has done this season, he hasn't been able to lead the Nuggets to consistent victories. His triple-double against the Suns kept the Nuggets in the game but they came up short, 113-108. It was the first game this season when he's had 10 or more rebounds. Asked if he feels he should have to bear the pressure of getting the Nuggets back on track, Anthony said, "No. It's just something that I tend to do sometimes. Sometimes it can become overwhelming, but I deal with it." Asked what more he could do to help a turnaround, Anthony said, "The only thing I can do is keep doing what I've been doing. Hopefully keep getting confidence from my teammates." He has played with a bad hand more often than not since his Jan. 22 return from suspension. In that time he has had to work his way back into a good rhythm, which is still a work in progress; the Nuggets have lost Allen Iverson for four consecutive games and center Marcus Camby might miss a second straight tonight with a groin strain. Though the losses have been irritating, Karl is not down on his team. "I think we're playing great," he said Tuesday. "I'm totally against what you guys are going to write. Like I said a long time ago, through all of this craziness you don't look at the results. You've got to look at how we're playing. We're playing good. That's NBA basketball. You can play great and lose four out of five. It happens all the time." Iverson is among those who believe Anthony carries a big responsibility but adds there are others willing to help. "Just being the leader of the team, that's where the responsibility comes from," Iverson said. "Just being the face of this franchise, the responsibility is there already. "If that's how he feels, then I'm looking forward to that. And he's capable of doing that. More than capable. But, as a teammate I don't think we want him to feel like he has to do that. That's all of us, not just me. That's my whole thing with being here, so that he won't have to carry that burden all of the time. I want to take some of the load off of him. And that's as well as everybody else." Camby said he has noticed Anthony attempting to take on more responsibility during recent games, perhaps too much. "He's trying to do a lot, especially with A.I. out of the game," Camby said. "That's another 30 points we're missing. So, I don't know if he feels the pressure to chip in where A.I. would have chipped in, but he's been playing well. "Everyone has to step up their level of play; you can't put the onus on one player. Carmelo is a great player, he takes the majority of the shots and we ask him to do a lot for this team, but we also all have to help him out." </div> Source
