Fans quick to acquit Anthony

Coach Karl also forgives forward for comments

By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Forward Carmelo Anthony reacts during a break as the Nuggets fell behind Monday. "Melo took this franchise five years ago and he's made the playoffs every year since he's been in the league," coach George Karl said.

The road to forgiveness started early.

Long before tipoff, as a matter of fact.

Sitting about five rows up in Section 126, longtime season-ticket holders Jan and Jerry Selinfreund expected Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets to redeem themselves in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Pick yourself up, dust yourself off," Jan said. "It's a whole new ballgame."

When the capacity crowd gradually filed into the arena, Nuggets fans echoed that sentiment in unison, cheering Anthony wholeheartedly during pregame introductions.

Apparently, there ain't no quit among the die-hard fans.

"I don't want to blame a player," Jerry Selinfreund said. "Even when I'm down on a player, it's usually for a very short time. I bounce back because we're fans. This is our city."

About 48 hours after proclaiming he, his coaches and his teammates "quit" in Game 3 against the Lakers, Anthony was not treated as a hostile witness in his own house. Signs around the Pepsi Center were supportive - "Don't Stop Believing" summed up the theme - though the Nuggets still carried themselves with an us-against-the-world attitude.

"We've got something to prove to ourself. Damn everybody else," forward Kenyon Martin said after the morning shootaround. "It's about us. Everybody's going to have something to say, whether it's good or bad, whether it's positive or negative. But we're not trying to go out and prove nothing to nobody but us, that we belong in the playoffs. It's more to ourselves than anybody else."

Not necessarily endearing words if you're a Nuggets fan, but at least Martin sounded ready to put up a fight, something he and his teammates failed to do in Game 3.

Unfortunately for the Nuggets, walking the walk proved more difficult than backing up the talk despite a crowd that was ready to raise the roof in an attempt to extend the season.

When Kobe Bryant broke free for an easy dunk midway through the second quarter, chants of "M-V-P" started among the large Lakers contingent. Trailing by 12 points, the home team needed a timeout.

Faced with a double-figure deficit in Game 3, the Nuggets folded their cushioned chairs and started barking at coach George Karl.

Like the fans, Karl was ready to turn the page Monday, particularly coming to Anthony's defense.

"That's a young kid figuring out the stress and pressure of playoff basketball," Karl said of the 23-year-old forward. "You probably go back with me and when I got my (butt) kicked in the playoffs when I was a young coach, I probably did some stupid things."

With things threatening to unravel before halftime, Anthony helped spark a comeback, scoring on an up-and-under baseline drive and then setting up Martin for an easy dunk.

Observing the rally was the king of the comeback, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, who took his baseline seat with about 3:30 to play in the first quarter. Like Anthony, Elway took his lumps in his first few seasons in Denver but rode off into blissful retirement after winning back-to-back Super Bowls after the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

"Melo took this franchise five years ago and he's made the playoffs every year since he's been in the league," Karl said. "That's a compliment to him. There's a drive and an anger that we haven't been able to find the secret to winning in the first round.

"I've coached a lot more playoff games than he has. You learn, you study. The fundamentals of a championship haven't changed much. The youthful player has to learn."

From the day he arrived in Denver, Anthony often has struggled while learning on the job.

He is a 23-year-old talent who lets his frustration show through on the court and tripped up plenty off the court.

Even as a Nuggets fan looking through powder-blue tinted glasses, Jan Selinfreund made an astute observation while trying to make sense of another playoff disappointment.

"It looks like something's happened to Carmelo in the last month," she said.

Anthony is two weeks removed from being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. It was a distraction he and the Nuggets did not need as the playoffs loomed.

As they have done since Anthony made his first shot in 2003, his supporters eventually pardoned his sins, bought No. 15 jerseys and hoped that better days were yet to come.

"We're good fans," Jerry Selinfreund said. "Whatever happens, we're going to be here next year."

Anthony can only hope that others remain faithful.

At this point, he can't afford to see them quit.

In his own words

Like the Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant has had playoff struggles, his Lakers having lost in the first round the previous two seasons after not making it in 2005. Bryant, who last year called out Lakers management, discussed the plight of Anthony, who has lost his four previous playoff series and Saturday said the Nuggets "quit" in Game 3:

"It's tough. You have to be able to have a system around you that plays well with you. You in turn have to be able to accept that. . . . It's a long process. I went through (seasons) where it was just absolutely frustrating getting to the first round and getting knocked out. . . . I said, 'Look, we need to upgrade and get better. . . . Management has to do something because I'm more than happy to take the pressure of wins and losses. I'm fine with that. But if I'm going to go into a gunfight, I want to have a gun. . . . We lose, blame me. I'm fine with that.' I think he just has to accept the pressure. When you're the guy here, you got to deal with it. When you're winning, it's all good. When you lose, it's your fault. . . . The one advantage I had is that I handled the ball a lot . . . I could go on runs where I could beat teams literally by myself. In his situation, it's a little more difficult for him. . . . You need help, though. From the top down. . . . Carmelo is a great, great guy. A hard worker. Once they figure it out, he'll give us a lot more headaches."

• April 29, 2008

  10:15 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jbowen43 writes:

  Nice words, but he has to quit his mugging and whining on the floor.

• April 29, 2008

  10:23 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  basketballgirl writes:

  Carmello keep your head up.You will continue to grow and learn from your life experiences. Don't let anyone tell you what you can not do. Just refocus yourself during the offseason and come back with a new focus and mindset.

  Go Carmello, you control your destiny!

• April 29, 2008

  10:49 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spider writes:

  They just need to start communicating together and with the coach. If they won't listen to the coach, there is a problem that needs to be taken care of before next season. If they can't resolve it by the start of training camp, a change has to be made.

• April 29, 2008

  12:59 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Disgusted_in_Denver writes:

  That is priceless coming from Kobe! That clown wanted out of LA just last offseason, wow he is full of words of wisdom. He took the word divisive to a whole new level with his antics about being traded. You want a leader who has mad game to boot, look at LeBron. Guy has 20,000+ chanting overrated and booing him every time he touches the ball Sunday. What would Melo do under that pressure? He certainly would not follow it up with 34, 12 & 7 and the all important win!

• April 30, 2008

  11:07 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  trexx writes:

  "You want a leader who has mad game to boot, look at LeBron. Guy has 20,000+ chanting overrated and booing him every time he touches the ball Sunday. What would Melo do under that pressure? He certainly would not follow it up with 34, 12 & 7 and the all important win!"

  -- that is also what i don't understand about Melo.

  Even Wade responds to these better.

  Anyway its not the end, Even Jordan had to struggle at first, but wait, leBron and Wade wasn't in his draft class to wrong analogy...

• May 3, 2008

  1:02 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  cololololololo writes:

  wow! how are you going to compare what LeBron and Wade have done to Melo?.......I guarantee if Melo and his Nuggets were in the JV League aka the eastern confrence they would have made it to the finals last year. If you look at the head to head win-loss record melo has against d wade and lebron maybe you would re think ur comments