'Melo Finally Gets 50, Finishes the Knicks

DENVER -- Carmelo Anthony toed the line for a pair of key foul shots with 16.7 seconds left. You'd think his home crowd would have given him some silence.

Nope.

"MVP. MVP. MVP,'' the fans chanted Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

Anthony, though, wasn't distracted. He nailed both foul shots for his first NBA career 50-point game, and his Nuggets soon defeated New York 128-125.

"Yeah, of course,'' Anthony said when asked if it was a monkey off his back to finally reach 50. "I have been there a couple of times and never got over that hump. It feels good to get that.''

In six-plus NBA seasons, Anthony had four times scored 45 or more, his previous high being 49 on Feb. 8, 2008 against Washington. All Anthony could do was laugh looking back on that night.

With Denver on its way to a 111-100 win, Anthony was at 49 and the Nuggets were doing whatever they could to get him 50, a move then Wizards coach Eddie Jordan called "classless.'' Jordan retaliated by having Anthony double- and triple-teamed before he even reached halfcourt.

"They sent three people at me,'' Anthony said. "At the other end of the court. At that end (emphasizing it was at his own basket) ... That wasn't part of Washington's (normal) scheme.''

On Friday, there was no attempted funny business. Anthony had reached 48 points, and was standing at the foul line with 16.7 seconds left and Denver up 125-123.



Anthony drilled both shots for a 127-123 lead. Nuggets guard J.R. Smith, who had done his part by hitting a trio of three-pointers in the final 5:14, made matters interesting when he split a pair of free throws with 4.4 seconds left to give Denver just a 128-125 lead. But the Knicks, with no timeouts left, couldn't advance the ball to halfcourt and failed to get off a shot.

"It might have been the two toughest free throws I've shot in a while,'' Anthony said. "We got the game on the line, 50. You're right there. You want to get it. If I said I didn't want to get it, I'd be lying to you.''

Anthony said he's only reached 50 once before at any level. He got 50 points in a high school game, meaning he tied his best-ever showing, including pee-wee ball.

To show how elusive 50 has been for Anthony, consider he tied George Gervin's NBA record last December by scoring 33 points in a quarter against Minnesota. But after his huge outburst in the third quarter, he only scored three points in the fourth and finished with 45.

"That definitely was a treat, man,'' Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups, who had 32 points himself, said of Anthony's performance Friday. "That was a phenomenal performance by Melo ... That was great. That one you remember for a lifetime.''

Anthony's showing wiped out a pretty impressive effort by New York forward Al Harrington. All Harrington could do was shake his head after scoring 41 points in a losing effort and being outpointed by Anthony.

"He played great,'' Harrington said of Anthony, who 17-of-28 from the field and 15-of-16 from the foul line while grabbing six rebounds and handing out five assists.. "He just makes shots. He got to the free-throw line. He has the complete package going on the offensive end right now.''

Indeed Anthony does. After dropping to third, he has regained the NBA scoring lead, his average of 30.9 ahead of the 30.2 belonging to second-place Kobe Bryant of the Lakers.

So what about those MVP chants, which conjured up memories of the treatment Bryant regularly gets at the Staples Center?

"It's funny,'' Anthony said. "I like it. We still got a long season to go, but it's good that people recognize me.''

After all, who needs silence at home even when it comes to pivotal free throws?

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com and on Twitter @christomasson.