It’s Anthony to the Rescue

Forget superstar. George Karl made Carmelo Anthony sound something more like a superhero.

Given the way Anthony has been rescuing the Denver Nuggets, maybe that’s appropriate.

“In January, he put this team on his back and saved the season when we had every excuse and every reason to give in to the schedule, to give in to the situations,” Karl said last week. “Surviving January was an incredible statement by Carmelo.”

Denver’s injury woes in the frontcourt have been extensive. Starters Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin have been unable to remain healthy, and top reserve Nene has been out since opening night.

The Nuggets have overcome all that mainly because of Anthony, who has stepped up to rank seventh in the league with more than 26 points per game and lead the Nuggets to first place in the Northwest Division.

“I played with Allan Houston, Patrick Ewing, Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson,” Camby said. “I’ve been blessed to play with great talents, but Carmelo has a chance to be the best of all of them.”

Anthony had only seven 30-point games in 2004-05, but he has more than tripled that this season. Karl thought the foundation for Anthony’s improvement came at the end of last season. He averaged 19.2 points in Denver’s first-round loss to San Antonio but scored 28 points in Game 4 and 25 in Game 5.

“I was so proud of how he played in the San Antonio playoffs against Bruce Bowen, who has shut people down,” Karl said. “The first game Bowen bothered him a little bit. But all the way through to the last game, Carmelo was getting the advantage on Bowen. And I think that was probably the way we sugarcoated the summer.”

Anthony has taken the confidence he gained in that series to become one of the NBA’s most clutch players. He had two game-winning baskets in three nights early in January, added a three-pointer to beat Minnesota last month, and had the tiebreaking basket in a two-point win at Indiana on Wednesday night. All came in the last five seconds.

“I love having the ball in my hands at all times, especially down the stretch,” Anthony said, “the last three, four minutes of the game, or three, four seconds.”

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The NBA’s feel-good story is starting to look as if it won’t have a happy ending.

With a month left in the regular season, the New Orleans Hornets are struggling through their worst stretch of the season and have fallen out of the top eight spots in the Western Conference.

The Hornets dropped their season-high seventh straight Tuesday night with a 96-81 loss to San Antonio, falling below .500 at 31-32. They are ninth in the West behind surging Sacramento and the Lakers.

“Mentally, it is just a challenge for this team right now and I think you are getting a lot of guys who are starting to get angry,” Coach Byron Scott said. “They lost seven in a row now and you have to get a win. You have to get that monkey off your back as soon as possible. I think they are getting angrier and angrier with each loss. And to me, that is a good thing.”

The Hornets weren’t expected to be in the playoff hunt this season. They went 18-64 last season, then were forced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. They have played home games in four places.

But sparked by rookie-of-the-year favorite Chris Paul and the strong support they have received in Oklahoma City, the Hornets have been perhaps the league’s biggest surprise. None of that has been enough lately.

Actually, most of the games during their losing streak haven’t been all that close. Only two were decided by fewer than 10 points, and the Hornets haven’t surpassed 90 points in five of the games.

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Pau Gasol suddenly isn’t the only dominant European big man on the Memphis roster.

Jake Tsakalidis, a 7-foot-2 center from the Republic of Georgia, has been enjoying one of the best stretches of his career to start this month.

A first-round draft pick of Phoenix in 2000, Tsakalidis was averaging only 5.1 points through his first five NBA seasons. He was hardly a factor this season before a strong stretch of games in March.

In a recent four-game stretch, Tsakalidis averaged 15.5 points and 12.3 rebounds while making 25 of 37 shots from the floor (67.6%). The highlight was a 19-point, 16-rebound performance -- both season highs -- in a 93-76 victory over Boston on Tuesday night.

“I thought about getting my All-Star ballot back and putting Jake on it,” Celtic Coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s not going to be a guy who gets you 30 points a night, but every night, he’s willing to do the dirty stuff. He wants to bang. He’s going to have good nights and bad nights, but he’s an excellent guy to have on your team.”

The increased production came after Tsakalidis was moved into the starting lineup by Grizzly Coach Mike Fratello late last month. He is playing 25 minutes a game this month, and he says playing time has made all the difference.

“I know I’m going to play,” Tsakalidis said. “When you sit on the bench, you never know when Coach is going to call your name. Mentally, I was always ready. Physically, it is difficult. I always did extra work, but it’s just not the same.”

Gasol could stand to benefit most from Tsakalidis’ emergence. The All-Star from Spain is frequently double-teamed, as he was by Boston, but teams won’t be able to use that strategy if Tsakalidis can consistently make them pay.

“He is working very hard, and it is paying off for him,” Fratello said. “He seems to always be in the right spot, and he is able to find seams and openings. Maybe opponents will learn to stay home with Jake instead of coming at Pau [Gasol] with a second guy.”

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Dallas has been using somebody named Rawle Marshall in its starting lineup lately. Though that might not be the best way to battle for home-court advantage, the Mavericks aren’t complaining.

That’s because Avery Johnson won’t let them.

“I never give the team an opportunity to make excuses because of injuries,” the Dallas coach said. “This is the NBA, and every team has injuries at this time of the season.”

The Mavericks are dealing with a number of them. Starters Josh Howard and Adrian Griffin have been out of the lineup because of hamstring injuries, and they were joined on the sidelines by key reserves Devin Harris (thigh) and Keith Van Horn (back).

Still, Dallas beat Cleveland and Houston on consecutive nights this week.

The Mavericks know they can’t afford to let up as they try to finish ahead of the division-rival San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference.

“Under the circumstances, I think we are doing quite well,” guard Jason Terry said. “We are doing the same things as if we had all our guys healthy. Nothing really affects us. There are no excuses. Everyone is hurt in this league.”

The injuries gave Marshall a chance to make his first two NBA starts in the wins this week. The rookie from Oakland University responded with 12 points in Wednesday’s victory at Houston.