You could hear it echoing throughout the building.

"Where is Mel-o?" "Who needs Mel-o?"

The Nuggets faithful showed up in force to show exactly how they felt about Carmelo Anthony, and judging by the torrent of boos whenever Melo touched the ball until his eventual backpedaling to the locker room, it wasn’t a crowd full of people looking to appreciate Melo’s “contributions” to the Nuggets organization. After shooting an abysmally bad 3-12 from the floor with just 9 points, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls, Melo decided that he wanted to get a head start on rehabbing his ailing knee back in New York. I was completely fine with that.

So were the rest of the Nuggets en route to an absolute steamrolling of the hapless Knicks, who, after a Tyson Chandler knee injury (get well soon, Tyson) packed up their suitcases early en route to their date in Portland tonight. There, they’ll face another hostile crowd, but that crowd’s venom will be reserved for Raymond Felton. Melo should breathe a sigh of relief .

The Nuggets have won 10 in a row, their longest streak of the year, and are just 1 game behind the Clippers and 1.5 games behind the Grizzlies. While the Nuggets hold the season series tiebreaker against the Clippers*, they still need one more win against the feisty Grizzlies – this Friday – to cement the necessary foundation for home court advantage this season.

*If the Nuggets and Clippers finish with the same record, the Clippers would get the better seed because the first tiebreaker is division winner.

TIEBREAKER BASIS:

(-) Tie breaker not needed (better overall winning percentage)
(1) Division leader wins tie from team not leading a division
(2) Head-to-head won-lost percentage
(3) Conference won-lost percentage
(4) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, own conference
(5) W-L Percentage vs. Playoff teams, other conference
(6) Net Points, all games
x-Clinched Playoff Berth | o-Eliminated from Playoffs contention | e-Clinched Eastern Conference | w-Clinched Western Conference
nw-Clinched Northwest Division | p-Clinched Pacific Conference | sw-Clinched Southwest Division | a-Clinched Atlantic Division
c-Clinched Central Conference | se-Clinched Southeast Conference
*-Games remaining vs.Teams Over/Under .500

Daily Links

Nuggets win 10th straight in blowout of Knicks, Tyson Chandler injured
Miami Heat win 20th (!) game in a row

Lakers fall in Atlanta as Kobe 'severely sprains' ankle