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melo4life · 02-10-2007, 12:00 AM

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Carmelo Anthony finally got his All-Star nod. He'll try to live up that status and help the Denver Nuggets win consecutive games when they visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.

Anthony was named to the All-Star team by NBA commissioner David Stern on Friday as an injury replacement, a long-speculated move after the Western Conference coaches snubbed Anthony - who leads the league in scoring with 30.9 points per game - for a reserve role.

He answered the recognition by scoring 34 points to lead Denver to a 102-95 win over Indiana on Friday, snapping the team's three-game losing streak. The injury-ravaged Nuggets (24-24) played without starters Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby. Iverson didn't travel with the team after aggravating his sprained ankle in Wednesday's 114-112 overtime loss to New Orleans, while Camby sat out with a strained left groin.

"Before the game, I just told my teammates 'Look, we haven't been having any fun out there. Let's just have fun and play the game," Anthony said. "I thought we did that tonight."

Both Denver and Milwaukee (19-31) are quite familiar with each other, as the teams have completed two trades in the last six months. The Nuggets traded Ruben Patterson to Milwaukee in August for Joe Smith, who was later dealt to Philadelphia in the deal for Iverson. On Jan. 11 - three days after Denver beat the Bucks 104-92 at home - the Nuggets sent guards Earl Boykins and Julius Hodge to the Bucks in exchange for point guard Steve Blake.

Milwaukee waived Hodge on Wednesday, but Boykins has averaged 16.1 points in 15 games with the Bucks. Meanwhile, Blake has stepped as the starter for Denver after filling a reserve role with the Bucks, and is averaging 6.5 assists with his new team.

Blake had 11 points and eight assists in Friday's victory. All five starters scored in double figures for Denver, which had dropped seven of its previous eight games.

"We fought through a lot of hell and a lot of injuries," Denver coach George Karl said. "All of the losses we've had, not one of them have been a bad loss. We're still in a good place. It was a big win tonight and hopefully we get another one on the road."

Patterson, who had 29 points and 12 rebounds in January's loss to the Nuggets, had 28 points and 16 rebounds in Milwaukee's 109-101 double-overtime loss to New Orleans on Thursday night, the 11th defeat in the last 13 games for the Bucks.

"I have to give their big men some credit," Patterson said. "They outrebounded us tonight and second-chance points killed us. It is a disappointing loss. This was a game we should have had."

Milwaukee made the deal for the 5-foot-5 Boykins to help out with injuries to leading scorer Michael Redd and Maurice Williams. While Williams has returned to action - he had 30 points in Thursday's defeat - Redd is still sidelined, though the Bucks are hoping to have him in uniform soon.

Redd, who's averaging 27.7 points, has been out since early January with a knee injury, and Milwaukee is just 3-16 since the calendar turned to 2007.

Denver has won seven of the last eight meetings between the teams, including three straight at the Bradley Center.

Denver @ Milwaukee will be an interesting game I think, because we play well against the .500% + teams but the teams below .500% we dont seem to play well against, but Melo has been in terrefic form lately so I think we might just win this game.

melo4life · 02-10-2007, 03:08 AM

Any news on Iverson and/or Camby yet?

melo4life · 02-10-2007, 01:13 PM

Nuggets to play without Iverson once again, but not sure on any news about Camby yet?

melo4life · 02-10-2007, 09:30 PM

Nuggets with another great performance, Carmelo Anthony is playing the best ball of his life narrowly missing out on his 2nd career triple double in just days, 29 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals. Blake gathered 11 assists, Nene 11 boards and Evans 10 boards, with another win, 109-102 at Milwaukee.

¹²³ · 02-11-2007, 07:46 AM

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