Blending into a dangerous mix

Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are blending into a dangerous duo. This was always a sure thing.

The question was if the duo would be dangerous to the Denver Nuggets or to their opponents. So far, it’s the opponents who are getting blitzed.

A fresh optimism permeates the Nuggets, long one of the NBA’s losing franchises. Denver has won nine of its past 10. The team is healthy. Best of all, Anthony and Iverson have declined to squabble.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson offered one of his usual half-smiles.

“They’re both talented and they both want to win and they’re both sharing the basketball,” Jackson said.

Here’s the problem. Yes, the Nuggets have been powerful and wonderful in recent weeks, but the San Antonio Spurs are more powerful and wonderful.

It’s the Nuggets extreme bad fortune to begin battle with the Spurs on Sunday in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Only a clueless optimist expects the Nuggets to survive this series.

I don’t usually embrace moral victories, but this series is different. If Denver can push the Spurs to seven games, the Nuggets can walk happily and hopefully into the offseason.

Futile is the best way to describe the Nuggets playoff history. The franchise has won a total of nine playoff games since 1988, and the Nuggets have suffered three consecutive 4-1 playoff ousters. Each was swift and lacking in drama.

The Anthony-Iverson duo offers Nuggets fans hope. Not for a series victory, but at least for a touch of excitement. Anthony and Iverson both adore a big stage and the chance it offers to show off their talents.

The NBA playoffs offer that stage. Expect the duo to combine for more than 60 points at least once.

Iverson has shown surprising maturity and restraint since arriving in Denver. In Philadelphia, it was always about Allen. He was a basketball anarchist who left a franchise in shreds.

At first, Iverson didn’t blend with Anthony and the Nuggets. He seemed too eager to serve his teammates.

Iverson lost the best part of his old act.

Anthony scrunched his face when he remembered the first few tense weeks.

“I was lying to myself, but I had to tell myself it would work right away,” Anthony said.

Slowly, Iverson grew into a new persona. He still shows flashes of Allen the Anarchist. He still launches ridiculous shots.

But he’s committed to team, to winning, to finishing his career the right way.

And he still can score. He humiliated Steve Nash in March, dropping 44 points on the two-time MVP. The Spurs won’t be able to follow recent playoff strategy by surrounding Anthony while ignoring all others.

The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant shook his head when he considered the offensive punch Iverson brings to the Nuggets.

“They have a weapon they can go to when they really need it,” Bryant said. “It’s not like when he was at Philadelphia, when he had to score 30 points a game. He can wait for an
opportune time.”

Iverson’s new generosity means the Nuggets should be mighty next season. With a healthy Nene and a wiser J.R. Smith and, of course, the Anthony-Iverson duo, Denver could fly among the NBA’s top teams with a realistic ambition to travel to the Western Conference Finals.

But that’s next season. This season, the Nuggets must refuse to make a quick exit.

Toppling the Spurs? Highly unlikely, but delivering an emotional, physical seven-game challenge should be the expectation.