Facing elmination in Denver’s first round tilt with San Antonio, Carmelo Anthony is eager to put the Nuggets on his back. George Karl doesn’t think he can handle the weight, writes the San AntonionExpress-News’ Mike Monroe (who really landed on his feet after the Hanoi Rocks split).
“I think San Antonio stuck to their game plan,” Anthony said. “Every time down the court they went to their go-to guy. They went to Tim Duncan every time down the court. He was either going to create something or he was going to get fouled.”
The Nuggets’ pre-series game plan ”to fast break the Spurs into submission ” has been nullified by the Spurs’ rigorous discipline. The Spurs have kept at least two defenders back around the half-court line every time a Spur drives to the basket or puts up a shot. Denver’s fast-break opportunities have been severely curtailed.
Limited to a half-court attack, the Nuggets occasionally have seemed dazed and confused, able to score big only when one point guard or another ” Andre Miller or Earl Boykins ” has had a breakout performance.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets’ most creative half-court scorer, Anthony, is growing increasingly frustrated by what he perceives is a relatively paltry number of crunch-time touches.
“What did they do (defensively)?” Anthony (above) responded, when asked what had kept him from being more productive in the second half Monday after he scored 15 in the first half. “Or what did we do?
“They didn’t do anything. I think we didn’t get me the ball. I don’t want to sound selfish, but I had something going and I don’t think we took advantage of that.”
Nuggets coach George Karl respectfully disagrees with his young star, who he says has not yet reached the same “go-to” status as a player like Duncan.
“I don’t really think there’s necessarily a need to think he deserved more touches, to be honest with you. I think he got great touches, great looks,” Karl said. “We’re not a team that’s going to be one-dimensional at the end of the game, like Duncan. We’re a team that’s got to go to the situation or the hot hand.
“I’m happy he wants more,” Karl said of Anthony, “but I’m not sure he deserves more.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in a telephone interview he will ask Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony to speak at a House hearing on witness intimidation.
“We’ll invite him,” Cummings said. “We’d rather not go the route of a sub- poena, but if we have to, we will.”
The congressman criticized Anthony last year for his appearance in an underground DVD called “Stop Snitching,” which featured Baltimore crime figures discussing violence toward witnesses. Anthony has maintained he did not support the video or know its purpose when he was filmed.
Asked of his reaction to Anthony’s initial apologies, Cummings said, “He’s going to have an opportunity to say that in front of a national audience.”
The congressman added he hasn’t heard from Anthony’s camp since February, after assurances Anthony would take part in a campaign against witness intimidation.
Anthony was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but his agent, Calvin Andrews, said, “That is all inaccurate. We have a full-scale plan working with the governor of Maryland, as well as the congressman’s office. … There is not one thing they have formally asked him to do that he has not done.”
Andrews said an announcement on what Anthony is doing would come after the season.
“If he wants to go to the hearing, he’ll go to the hearing,” Andrews said of Anthony. “There’s no reason to force him to go. … I don’t think it was fair of him to blast Carmelo like that.”