Broken finger is no problem for Iverson

Nuggets guard has 28 points in rout of Raptors

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 15, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony dunks for two of his 22 points Friday in a blowout win against Toronto.

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The Nuggets racked up all kinds of superlatives Friday night. One that might not show up in the record book is most points by a player with one good hand.

Nuggets guard Allen Iverson, playing with a right ring finger teammate Carmelo Anthony emphasized is "broken," scored a game-high 28 points as the Nuggets walloped the Toronto Raptors 137-105 at the Pepsi Center.

The Nuggets sent statisticians turning back pages in the record book after they shot 61.4 percent in the first half and took a 79-57 lead. Doing much of the damage was Iverson, who shot 7-for-7 for 18 points.

"I think (the finger is) going to always bother me as I continue to play," said Iverson, who missed his first shot of the second half and finished 9-for-12. "I think being that it's hurt makes me concentrate on my shot a little bit more instead of just playing."

Iverson has played four games since getting hurt March 7. The injury is called a small non-displaced fracture at the end of his finger, but Anthony begged to differ when a reporter called it a "bad finger."

"He's got a broke finger, not a bad finger. Make sure you get that right," said Anthony, who added 22 points. "For a guy like that, out playing with a broke finger and still having a performance he's having, just says a lot about his character, his pride and his love for the game of basketball."

Plenty of fans loved the way the Nuggets played basketball Friday. Their 44 first-quarter points and 79 in the first half set opponents records against Toronto, playing its 13th season.

The Nuggets (39-26), who moved 11/2 games back of Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, scored their most points in a half since getting 79 in the first against the Warriors on Feb. 23, 1991.

"We can be real scary," Anthony said of what happens when the Nuggets, who handed out 34 assists, play together. "This is the time right now we've got to approach every game like it's a playoff game."

The Nuggets are 18-0 when they hand out 29 assists or more. With so many easy baskets being set up, they shot 55.3 percent.

"We are not guarding anybody," said Toronto coach Sam Mitchell, stating the obvious.

Iverson was a blur most of the game to the Raptors (34- 31), whose star, Chris Bosh, missed his eighth straight game with a sore knee. But it wasn't as easy as it looked.

"I don't think it'll heal during the season," Iverson said of his finger. "It felt OK before the game. Now, it feels that much worse. It's throbbing. The doctor said (Friday) if I didn't wear this brace to keep it straight after every game, there's a chance it will get worse, and I'll have to get a pin in it."

Iverson told his wife he wanted to get hit on his finger to see how it would respond. But he regretted that comment, saying it felt like a "10" on the pain scale when he got hit.

Iverson also has a sore right knee, but he said it felt much better. As for the finger, Iverson doesn't plan to miss any time, saying sitting out one game wouldn't help matters much any way.

At least he has found a silver lining.

"(Nuggets coach George Karl) joked with me that I must like this injury because I just play in the games and I can't go through the shootaround because I'm not a big fan of shootaround," Iverson said with a laugh.

The game Friday looked like a shootaround for the Nuggets. They never trailed and led by as many as 34 points.

Six players scored in double figures. Center Marcus Camby and guard Chucky Atkins, playing his fifth game since returning from Jan. 11 sports hernia surgery, each scored 17.

"I'm still in preseason from," said Atkins, who grabbed a surprising seven rebounds. "But I'm getting stronger."

Atkins played all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter, when Iverson, who logged two, was the only starter to play. The only drama in the quarter came when Denver's Linas Kleiza picked up a technical with 21.7 seconds left.

"I'm going to start calling him Rasheed Wallace," Karl said.

Kleiza wasn't amused. He said he was talking to a Raptors assistant who worked him out before the 2005 draft and the official misconstrued it.

"I don't talk trash to anybody up 30 points," he said.

Had they wanted, the Nuggets sure could have Friday.

Nuggets 137, Raptors 105

FG FT Reb

TORONTO Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Moon 24:12 3-6 0-0 2-7 2 0 6

Nesterovic 20:49 7-9 1-2 2-3 4 4 15

Bargnani 12:55 2-7 2-2 1-2 1 1 6

Calderon 22:53 2-5 0-0 0-1 7 2 4

Parker 32:11 6-11 6-6 0-3 4 3 19

Delfino 29:26 6-12 2-3 1-7 4 0 16

Humphries 14:51 6-6 0-0 1-5 0 3 12

Ford 25:07 2-7 1-1 0-2 5 2 5

Kapono 25:07 3-10 0-0 0-0 4 3 6

Graham 12:41 3-6 2-2 0-1 1 2 8

Baston 13:34 3-6 0-0 1-6 2 1 6

Brezec 6:14 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 2

Totals 240 44-90 14-16 8-37 34 23 105

Percentages - FG .489, FT .875. Three-point goals - 3-12, .250 (Delfino 2-5, Parker 1-2, Kapono 0-2, Bargnani 0-3). Team rebounds - 4. Team turnovers - 16 (25 pts.). Blocked shots - 8 (Moon 4, Calderon, Delfino, Humphries, Parker). Turnovers - 16 (Calderon 4, Ford 3, Nesterovic 3, Bargnani 2, Graham 2, Baston, Parker). Steals - 4 (Bargnani, Baston, Nesterovic, Parker). Technicals - Nesterovic, 3:11 first; Coach Mitchell, 7:04 second.

FG FT Reb

DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Anthony 29:38 9-17 4-5 1-3 6 1 22

KMartin 28:56 2-4 1-2 0-7 3 3 5

Camby 27:50 6-8 4-6 1-10 6 4 17

Carter 21:52 5-9 0-0 0-1 4 1 12

Iverson 32:18 9-12 10-10 0-0 5 2 28

Najera 14:16 2-4 2-2 0-2 1 3 6

Kleiza 22:18 1-6 6-6 2-4 2 4 8

Atkins 24:00 5-10 2-2 0-7 4 3 17

Smith 17:16 5-9 0-0 1-3 3 3 12

Diawara 10:17 2-4 2-2 0-4 0 0 6

Hunter 6:14 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 3

Green 5:05 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 1

Totals 240 47-85 33-38 5-41 34 25 137

Percentages - FG .553, FT .868. Three-point goals - 10-27, .370 (Atkins 5-8, Carter 2-5, Smith 2-6, Camby 1-2, Anthony 0-1, Diawara 0-1, Iverson 0-1, Najera 0-1, Kleiza 0-2). Team rebounds - 9. Team turnovers - 10 (8 pts.). Blocked shots - 7 (K.Martin 2, Anthony, Camby, Iverson, Najera, Smith). Turnovers - 10 (Iverson 2, Smith 2, Atkins, Carter, Hunter, Kleiza, K.Martin, Najera). Steals - 9 (Camby 2, Iverson 2, Carter, Diawara, Kleiza, Najera, Smith). Technicals - Kleiza, 0:21.7 fourth.

Toronto 23 34 21 27 - 105

Denver 44 35 29 29 - 137

A - 17,952 (19,155). T - 2:11. Officials - Tom Washington, Tommy Nunez Jr., Leroy Richardson.

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com

NUMBERS GAME

6 teammates Toronto's Darrick Martin had over for dinner Thursday at the home of grandmother Betty Fox, one of about 100 relatives the Denver native has here. Martin, brother of Nuggets community relations employee Jessica Martin, left 30 tickets Friday, but he was inactive.

TAKING IT IN STRIDE

With some naysayers questioning his job security, Nuggets coach George Karl said it's expected.

"I don't think it has anything to do with this year," said Karl, hired in January 2005. "Between the fourth and fifth year with a team is where the honeymoon and the criticism and the posses begin. I've had a great 31/2, four-year run of love and affection. And you can't have it forever.

"The fan is fantastic. But there's always going to be a part of fans that are against you. And there's going to be a part of those fans that are going to love you to a fault."

Karl has two years and $6 million left on his contract.

AILING IVERSON

With Denver's Allen Iverson having a fracture in his right ring finger, he won't do much outside of games.

"We basically got him on a no-practice kind of scheme for about two weeks to try to get the finger healed," Karl said.

It's unlikely the banged-up Iverson, who also has a sore right knee, will miss any games.

"I'd have to angrily discuss it with him because he wants to play," Karl said.

Chris Tomasson

HE SAID IT

"It's ridiculous how much you watch scoreboards."

Karl, on the Western Conference playoff race.

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