December 23, 2008 12:14 AM

Anthony had to be convinced to sit

By Chris Tomasson
Rocky Mountain News

Congressional committees sometimes don't discuss matters this much.

When it was decided to shelve Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony for this week due to a right elbow contusion, plenty went into it. Anthony said the decision was made Sunday after "about six or seven phone calls.''

Of course, Anthony also had seen his cell phone fill up with text messages after Saturday's 108-101 loss at Phoenix.

"I got a lot of texts from people saying, 'You don't look right out there,''' Anthony said. "They don't know what I'm going through with this elbow.''

Indeed, Anthony wasn't looking right. He shot 3-of-13 for 10 points at Phoenix, making him 8-of-27 with an 11.5 average over his past two games.

So it was decided Anthony would miss Monday's game against Portland, Tuesday's at Portland and Friday's against Philadelphia. He hopes he can return Sunday at New York, but isn't certain.

Nuggets coach George Karl called Anthony "stubborn.'' Before he was on board to sit out, Anthony talked with his agents (lead agent Bill Duffy was at Saturday's game and played a key role), family members, doctors and friends to name a few.

"When you're looking at it from the outside, you see probably more things than (Anthony does) out there on the court,'' Anthony said. "A lot of people just recommended to me to take some time.''

The fear was that, if Anthony continued to play, his elbow problem would linger. Already, he said it had been getting "worse and worse'' over the past week.

Anthony is Denver's franchise player. There was no need to continue to risk anything, even with the Nuggets heading into two key Northwest Division games against Portland. As it turned out, Denver was able to win the first one, a gritty 97-89 decision at the Pepsi Center.

"Right now is the best time to get it over with.... and get the rest and depend on my teammates to go out there and have somebody step up,'' said Anthony, foreshadowing Denver's big win in which perimeter players J.R. Smith, who scored 15 points replacing Anthony as the starter, and Linas Kleiza, who scored 17 off the bench, did indeed step up.

The elbow has been bothering Anthony since the start of the season, forcing him to sit out the second half Nov. 30 against Houston. He said he has aggravated it taking hits and falling to the court, and that an X-ray shortly after the Nov. 11 game at Charlotte revealed bone spurs in each elbow.

Karl said the main problem is believed to be "more tendinitis than structural'' damage' and most are projecting the elbow "settles down'' with a week's rest,

"That's the game plan,'' Karl said of Anthony projected to return Sunday. "There could be circumstances and situations that could make it longer and maybe shorter (although Anthony said his absence won't be shorter than three games). The doctor feels that, if he shuts it down for three or four days, there could be significant improvement.

"Over the last month, we have seen, if you watch him on film... you watch him grimace when he plays. It's a tough call. He wants to play. He's still a good player, but he's not playing to what we know he can do... I don't want mentally for Melo to lose his edge, his confidence.''

Smith said Anthony told the players in a meeting before Monday morning's shootaround he would be sitting out.

"He came up and told us,'' Smith said. "He just said he couldn't do it. He could play, but he's not going to be at 100 percent... It's really been hurting him since the beginning of the season. He just has to fight through it. It's just him being a great player and being able to get the job done. The last couple of games it looked like he was a forcing it a bit.''

The thinking is that, by resting now, Anthony's elbow pain won't linger.

"They'd rather me rest now than rest at the end of the year and not be 100 percent,'' Anthony said.

Anthony definitely is not 100 percent now. He said he fells it whenever he shoots, and even the most mundane tasks can hurt.

"I feel it right now with my hands in my pocket,'' he said.

Fortunately for the Nuggets, nobody got caught with their hands in their pockets Monday. Denver players were all over Portland guard Brandon Roy, who, after averaging 36.4 points in his previous five games, managed just eight on 3-of-11 shooting.

For Anthony's sake, hopefully he didn't do any damage to his elbow high-fiving teammates on the bench during Denver's big win.

Posted by Chris Tomasson at 12:14 AM | Comments (2)