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http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_17115526
Anthony denies meeting set with Nets after Nuggets fall to Spurs
By Chris Dempsey
The Denver Post
POSTED: 01/16/2011 09:48:51 PM MST
UPDATED: 01/17/2011 09:02:17 AM MST
SAN ANTONIO — Carmelo Anthony was not traded Sunday. Instead, he bounced up and down the court in a Nuggets uniform against the Spurs at the AT&T Center.
There is an expected meeting between the Nuggets star and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov this week that could change Anthony's status in a few days. However, Anthony not only denied knowing about the widely reported meeting, he said he didn't want to talk to any teams at all.
"I'm having a meeting?" he said after the Nuggets' 110-97 loss at San Antonio on Sunday night. "I know nothing about that.
"I've never heard about that. That's news to me. I can't talk to them people. The Denver Nuggets still pay me. I haven't talked to anybody — Masai (Ujiri, Nuggets executive vice president of basketball operations) or Josh (Kroenke, team president) or any other teams. So for that speculation to be going around out there like that, that's false."
Asked if he wanted to talk to New Jersey, he said: "I don't want to talk to nobody. I let the front office handle that type of stuff. It ain't my job to be talking to New Jersey, New York, Lakers, Dallas, no one. I still won't step into something like that. I've seen a lot of people go through that.
"For me to sit here and say I want to talk to them or Masai or Josh gave them permission to talk to me, I think that's false. If that was the case I'm pretty sure I would have gotten a phone call from Masai or Josh about that."
Anthony's continued presence on the court meant Chauncey Billups was still in a Nuggets uniform as well, and coach George Karl once again had to observe it all knowing that this team isn't really his team. Yet it may stay that way for a while longer.
According to New Jersey coach Avery Johnson, who spoke to reporters Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, the current composition of his team — and by extension the Nuggets as well — will not change for at least a week.
The Nets practiced at the L.A. Sports Center health club, and Johnson pointed at his players to drive this point home.
"The team that you see right now?" Johnson said. "You'll see this team in uniform Wednesday."
An intrepid reporter then asked if it would be the same team for New Jersey's game on Friday against Detroit.
"You'll see the same team Friday night," Johnson said. "End of story."
Nuggets coach George Karl wouldn't go nearly as far to guarantee the same.
"I don't have that answer," Karl said. "I don't think I should answer it one way or another. Masai's not on the trip. I haven't talked to him since Friday. And I'm sure if there was anything that drastically changed, he would have called me."
As the attention and questions and reports and rumors heat up off the court, on the court Anthony's shot has suffered in the last two games. He followed up a 5-of-11 performance against Cleveland with a 5-of-17 performance (12 points, five rebounds) against the Spurs.
Four Nuggets ended in double figures, led by Al Harrington's 18 points, as they head into another week of instability about the team's future.
"We've just got to keep our focus," Karl said. "Keep fighting through our drama."
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or
[email protected]
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
The 3-point line has been the Spurs' friend this season in their series with Denver. The Spurs have hit 34 in the three games. . . . The Nuggets had no double-figure scorers in the first half Sunday. Carmelo Anthony and Nene got there during the third quarter.
Final thought
No surprise the Nuggets lost in San Antonio, but the unraveling fashion with which it happened was surprising.
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