As rumors swirl that Carmelo Anthony is heading to New York or Los Angeles, the Denver Nuggets forward said he’s thinking about staying put.

Anthony said he would “take a real hard look” at signing a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nuggets if he isn’t dealt [..]

DENVER — The Houston Rockets withstood Carmelo Anthony’s one-man show.

Kevin Martin scored 37 points and the Rockets took advantage of Nene’s absence and Chauncey Billups’ early exit to beat the Denver Nuggets 108-103 on Monday night despite Anthony’s 50-point effort that tied his career high.

“The shot felt good, just attacking the rim, trying to get baskets,” Anthony said. “The jump shot was [..]

The Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks are discussing a three-team trade that would make forward Carmelo Anthony a Knick before the Feb. 24 trade deadline, according to league sources.

In the proposed trade, New York would send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota and the Timberwolves would send Corey Brewer and a first-round pick to Denver. Denver would also receive Wilson Chandler from New York.

A Timberwolves source told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher on Sunday that the team would not approve of a deal where the team received just New York’s Randolph and Curry with Brewer and a first-rounder heading to Denver. While these are the names currently being discussed, additional players could be added to make a deal possible, sources said.

The deal is not expected to happen until the middle of next week at the earliest, and one source said it could drag out until the trade deadline. Denver, which has been exchanging proposals with the Knicks for the past couple weeks, is weighing other options.

With teams aware of Anthony’s desire to play in New York, the Nuggets’ choices are limited. With little chance of signing Anthony long-term, few clubs are willing to send valuable assets to Denver.

If the trade with New York and Minnesota goes through, Anthony would be in line to receive a three-year, $65 million contract extension as part of the agreement in what is known as an extend-and-trade.

Since Anthony’s preference to play for New York is known, there is some sentiment within the Knicks organization to hold off on trading for him and wait until he becomes a free agent this summer. Such a move would enable them to keep their young assets.

But owner James Dolan has been pressing team president Donnie Walsh to trade for Anthony before the deadline, according to sources.

“Dolan is really pressuring Walsh to get Melo, but Denver has been vacillating back and forth,” one of the sources said.

A trade to New York would end the season-long saga that began last summer when Anthony refused to sign the contract extension with the Nuggets.

Late in the preseason, reports of a potential four-team deal with New Jersey, Utah and Charlotte that would make Anthony a Net surfaced.

But league sources say the deal was overblown and New Jersey was actually leaking the story in an effort to pressure Denver’s new front office regime of Josh Kroenke and Masai Ujiri into making a deal.

Last month, reports of another potential trade of Anthony to New Jersey surfaced, this time involving the Detroit Pistons. That deal was close to being agreed upon, but Anthony was reluctant to sign the three-year, $65 million extension with New Jersey.

Anthony agreed to meet with the Nets but owner Mikhail Prokhorov called off his club’s pursuit of Anthony in a news conference a day before the scheduled sit-down was to take place.

There have been no talks between New Jersey and Denver since Prokhorov pulled out of the deal, but the Nets are monitoring the Nuggets’ discussions with other teams. The possibility of New Jersey reigniting talks with the Nuggets remains until the Nets trade away Troy Murphy, whose expiring contract is critical to any deal between the two clubs.

Chris Broussard covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine.

ORLANDO, Fla. — In the days leading up to Miami’s third matchup of the season with Southeast Division-rival Orlando, LeBron James stressed that even at barely the midpoint of the season there was high importance for Thursday night’s game.

And James played like it, pouring in 51 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists — including a 23-point first quarter — to lead Miami to a 104-100 victory.

It was a season high for James, whose scoring effort tied for the fifth most points of his career. Dwyane Wade added 15 points and Chris Bosh 13. The victory was the Heat’s fourth straight. The Magic lost for the fourth time in their last six and fell behind 2-1 in the season series with Miami.

“Just playing this team got me going,” said James, who hit his first 11 shots of the night. “We understand that it wasn’t just any regular-season game. There were a lot of things said about us in the offseason that came from this organization. So we just wanted to come in here and play to our abilities and make a statement.”

Jameer Nelson led Orlando with 22 points. Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds, but only one point after halftime and was just 3 for 13 at the free throw line. Jason Richardson chipped in 16.

The Heat were expected to exploit a thin Magic front line that was missing injured starting forward Brandon Bass. Instead, led by James, the Heat did their damage from the outside. They led by as many as 23 points before a frantic rally by the Magic in the final six minutes almost washed it away.

Miami took a 16-point advantage into the final period and led 90-69 before the Magic went on a 19-4 run, capped by Gilbert Arenas’ 3-pointer to cut the lead to 94-88 with 1:51 remaining in the game.

But James responded with his own 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give Miami a 97-88 cushion.

A missed 3-pointer by Richardson on the other end was rebounded by James, who was fouled and hit 1 of 2 free throws. Another 3 by Richardson cut the lead to 98-91 with 51.1 seconds left.

Nelson hit a layup to trim it to 98-93 and then 99-95 with a pair of free throws with 22.5 to play.

Following a pair of free throws by James to make it 103-97, Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 9.4 seconds left. The Heat lost the ball on the ensuing inbounds play, but the Magic were unable to tie it on their next possession. Wade hit a free throw to provide the final margin.

“We just let our guard down,” James said. “We can’t do that as a veteran ball club. You can say that about a young team. We came in [the locker room] and you could tell by the look on the guys’ faces that we weren’t satisfied with the way we finished the game out. That’s always a good sign. It wasn’t just ‘Let’s celebrate.’ ”

Aside from the late flurry by Orlando, there was another scary moment for the Heat in the third quarter.

Wade was driving to the basket with 9:43 left in the period when he went up for a dunk and was fouled hard by Howard, who was attempting to block. Wade slammed to the floor and remained down for about a minute.

After a timeout, the Heat players — even those who were on the bench — went out to check on Wade, who was face-down on the court. He eventually walked gingerly to the bench and remained in the game to shoot two free throws. He went to the locker room and returned with a heat pack on his back. He returned to start the fourth quarter.

He had ice on his back afterward, but said he will travel with the team to Charlotte and plans to play Friday. He said he didn’t think the play by Howard was dirty.

Nelson said he was pleased with his team’s comeback effort, but not with another slow start by the Magic, who he said succeeded for the most part Thursday in forcing the Heat to shoot jumpers.

“We need to do the things we need to do to get ourselves ready, individually and collectively,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to come out and talk about energy or intensity every night. That should be a given of something that should be there every night.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said their early offensive woes were too much to overcome. For the night, Orlando shot just 42 percent.

“Everybody struggled on the offensive floor,” Van Gundy said. “I was quote honestly pretty happy with the shots that we got. Some nights I’m not, but I thought we got good shots. I thought we had trouble putting the ball in the basket.”

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said that though he was pleased with the win, the final six minutes is what he will be watching for their final meeting on March 3.

“They’ve very competitive. You’ve got to be on top of you game and for 42 minutes we played as well and as efficient as we can on both ends of the court. We had an unfortunate six-minute lapse, but I’m not going to let that take away from the win,” he said. “It was a good win. Our guys were very motivated in this game to beat a division rival, but hopefully we’ve learned our lesson.”

Game notes

According to STATS LLC, in the last 25 years the only player with at least 50 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in game was Michael Jordan against Phoenix on Jan. 21, 1989. … The Magic were outrebounded 35-27. … Making his fifth start of the season, Anderson scored in double figures for 19th time in the last 22 games.

Article courtesy of ESPN                                                                             Boe money

LOS ANGELES — Manu Ginobili had an open 3-pointer. Tony Parker made his teardrop drive through the lane. Tim Duncan finally shot a fadeaway jumper.

The Spurs’ three stars all got their signature shots on San Antonio’s final possession, and all three missed.

Thanks to Antonio McDyess, the Spurs still left this meeting of the conference’s top two teams with another reason to believe they’re the best in the West.

McDyess tipped in Duncan’s missed jumper right before the buzzer, and the Spurs survived the Los Angeles Lakers’ late rally for an 89-88 victory Thursday night.

“We all missed, and Dice saved us,” said Parker, who scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half.

The game featured a full third of the West All-Star team that will take the Staples Center court Feb. 20, but a veteran journeyman forward’s heads-up play decided the Spurs’ second win over the Lakers this season.

“I was in the right place at the right time, and it bounced right to me,” McDyess said. “I haven’t had too many [buzzer-beaters]. I can probably count them on one hand, but this is a big one.”

Richard Jefferson added 18 points for San Antonio in a defense-dominated meeting of two veteran teams hoping for another championship run.

San Antonio nursed a small lead through most of the second half until Lamar Odom’s 3-pointer with 1 minute to play and Pau Gasol’s free throws with 22.7 seconds left put the Lakers ahead.

After Ginobili and Parker missed shots they normally make, San Antonio twice got the ball back. Duncan’s shot after an inbounds play then bounced high off the back rim, but McDyess eluded Odom and Kobe Bryant to tip it home an instant before the buzzer sounded on San Antonio’s 12th win in 14 games.

“It bounced off, kind of like slow motion, and I was able to get my hand up,” said McDyess, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds — including six offensive boards.

Los Angeles held the Spurs scoreless in the final 1:53 — until McDyess’ improbable tip set off a joyous on-court celebration. Duncan and McDyess both were stunned when Duncan’s fadeaway jumper missed.

“It felt really good on the release, and it was on line,” said Duncan, who scored eight points on 3-of-12 shooting. “That’s a bunch of emotions in like a second and a half.”

Gasol scored 19 points after being selected to the All-Star team earlier in the day, and Bryant added 16 points on 5-for-18 shooting along with 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who again came up small in a big game. The two-time defending NBA champions dropped to 1-5 against the four teams above them in the overall standings, including two losses to San Antonio.

“It was an ugly game,” Bryant said. “When you’ve got two good defensive teams, for the most part it’s going to be that way. I think both teams didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. They shot it better in stretches than we did. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game, but they just got a great bounce. It bounced right to him.”

Odom scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who lost three of four on their final homestand before the All-Star break, including Sunday’s blowout loss to East-leading Boston. Los Angeles has lost eight home games already — one more than the Lakers lost during the entire 2009-10 regular season.

“Mental toll? Not much,” Bryant said. “I think it builds mental toughness.”

All-Stars abounded at Staples Center: Bryant, the fans’ leading vote-getter, was joined by Gasol, Duncan and Ginobili when the West reserves were selected earlier Thursday. Parker was left off the team, even though Duncan, the 13-time All-Star, thinks the French point guard deserves a spot more than Duncan.

“Tony was great,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He kept us together like he has all year long and just did a fantastic job.”

Despite the Spurs’ steady success and the Lakers’ recent struggles, Popovich claimed before the game that Los Angeles is the best team in the West. Popovich credits the Spurs’ superior record to the fewest injuries for any contending team.

Andrew Bynum had 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six assists in his return to the Lakers’ starting lineup after missing one game with a bone bruise in his knee.

But the Lakers had a downbeat ending to their final home date before a seven-game road trip leading up to All-Star weekend at Staples Center, which will be occupied by the Grammy Awards next week.

“It feels a lot better to have a chance to win the game than to lose by 10-plus points,” Gasol said. “It’s tough when you’re struggling. We’re hitting the road, and we’ll have an opportunity to get it together and get back on the right track.”

Game notes

The Spurs made the second of nine stops on their annual rodeo road trip. … San Antonio’s Gary Neal beat the first-quarter buzzer with an acrobatic, quick-release 15-footer from the baseline after grabbing a loose ball. … Fans near courtside included Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Lawrence, Jonah Hill, director Guillermo del Toro and Andy Garcia.                                                                  Article courtesy of Espn     /Boe money

Hours before handing the returning Lebron James and the Miami Heat their fourth straight loss, the Atlanta Hawks resigned Damien Wilkins to another 10 day contract. After being signed while Joe Johnson recovered from surgery, he has averaged 2.7 points per game in 17 games and he has seemingly impressed the team because they want to keep him around for a little bit longer. Unfortunately for Wilkins the buck does not stop there [..]

Keeping in the celebratory spirit for Martin Luther King Jr’s day, there were more than a handful of college and professional basketball games on Monday, including Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls taking on Rudy Gay and the Memphis Grizzlies [..]

The decision to bench Rip Hamilton may be looking better and better for the remaining starters of the Detroit Pistons as they walked through the finish line Monday with a 103 – 89 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, even after Dirk Nowitzki returned to game play with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists [..]

First it was Lebron, out with sprained ankle.  The Miami Heat started their slow descent to the Los Angeles Clippers. Then, it was Chris Bosh also out with a sprained ankle after having it rolled out by Chicago Bulls’ Omer Asik. Now, another amongst them have fallen, [..]

After missing 15 games earlier this season because of a broken finger, Carlos Boozer returned to the game with a vengeance. He has been Derrick Rose’s man to depend on and has not had many disappointing games since his return. With a sprained ankle sustained during the game against the Miami Heat, that might have to change. Rolling his ankle, after Bosh had injured his own, Boozer limped out with a walking boot, which proves to be not so great for the Chicago Bulls who have four games this week. The schedule is not too hectic with the Bulls contending against the less than notable Cavaliers and the injury ridden Mavericks, but Boozer has become one of the team’s leading scorers and biggest assets. The team is not optimistic about him playing Monday, but the grass may be greener later on. Maybe