Nuggets

MILWAUKEE -- Allen Iverson arrived in Denver in a league-shaking trade for one reason: to give the Nuggets a chance to win a playoff series. They haven't won in the postseason since 1994, and the sixth-seeded Nuggets face a difficult task against third-seeded San Antonio, a winner of 59 games. But the presence of Iverson as a complement to all-star forward Carmelo Anthony (Towson Catholic) could give Denver a realistic chance to spring a first-round upset. The Nuggets won 10 of 11 regular-season games in April, showing they would not be pushovers for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and the savvy Spurs.

Moves BASEBALL DODGERS -- Agreed to terms with C Rene Rivera and IF Terry Tiffee on minor league contracts. PIRATES -- Named Jack Bowen national crosschecker. YANKEES -- Agreed to terms with C Jorge Posada on four-year contract. BASKETBALL NUGGETS -- Signed C Jelani McCoy from Los Angeles (D-League). COLLEGES NEBRASKA -- Named Tom Osborne interim football coach. Pro soccer IGNITION (MISL) -- Agreed to terms with G Tomer Chencinski and F Leo Gibson.

Here's a bit of advice to the Denver Nuggets: Just lose it.All season, the Nuggets have been awful. Beyond awful. And everyone had just assumed that they'd finish the season with nine wins or less, tying or beating the season of futility of the Philadelphia 76ers team that went 9-72 in 1972-73.But with a win over the Washington Wizards last week, the Nuggets had won three of four games. They nearly made it four of five, finally losing by one in overtime to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.

DENVER -- After all the turmoil of the day on which Jim Lynam was dismissed as coach, the Washington Bullets still had to play a basketball game last night. And, after two straight embarrassing losses, they finally found themselves in a game they had a chance to win.But the Bullets were denied the victory because of late-game heroics by Dale Ellis, whose jumper from the foul line with 11 seconds left gave the Denver Nuggets the lead for good in a 108-104 victory at McNichols Arena.It was the fourth straight loss for the Bullets, who went winless on the four-game trip leading up to the All-Star break and have now dropped 10 of their last 13 games overall.

LANDOVER -- Denver Nuggets center Dikembe Mutombo stands 7 feet, 2 inches tall, has long arms and has earned his reputation as one of the NBA's best shot-blockers. So when Washington Bullets point guard Brent Price put his head down and drove the lane in the final seconds of what was a tie game yesterday -- well, courtside fans could not be faulted if they ducked.But instead of swatting the shot of the 6-1 Price into oblivion, Mutombo just stood in his path with his hands down and Price casually deposited the winning layup with less than a second left.

It's been the assumption that once the season was over that the Denver Nuggets would take care of center Dikembe Mutombo, to the tune of about $10 million a year. But with the possibility the disappointing Nuggets could wind up in the NBA lottery, it appears the team is rethinking paying Mutombo like a franchise-type player.Which could be the reason we recently witnessed an NBA-season-high 31 rebounds by Mutombo against the Charlotte Hornets on March 26. On Tuesday, Mutombo grabbed 18 rebounds against Minnesota and for the season he's third in the league in rebounding (11.8)

After dealing with temperamental Rod Strickland the past two seasons, the Portland Trail Blazers raised some eyebrows when they acquired Kenny Anderson, Rasheed Wallace and Isaiah Rider in the off-season.All three had notorious reputations, but apparently the Blazers' management thought the friendly environs of Portland would have a calming effect.Well, Anderson and Wallace have been fine. But Rider's bizarre behavior has continued. The latest episode got the talented guard suspended for disappearing from practice on Dec. 10.The day before going AWOL, Rider missed a game-day shoot-around.

DENVER -- When Jalen Rose was asked yesterday if he'd like the opportunity to play alongside his Fab Five teammates from Michigan again, the Denver Nuggets rookie guard looked skyward and smiled."

It began as one of those potentially big nights for Charlotte Hornets forward Larry Johnson, a game in which even his alter-ego "Grandmama" would have been good for 20 points.The Hornets on Friday were playing the Denver Nuggets, who were without talented second-year forward LaPhonso Ellis. Denver instead started Tom Hammonds, a 1989 first-round pick who failed to distinguish himself in three years with the Washington Bullets.So what happens? Johnson scored a season-low three points, hit- ting just one of 14 shots over 40 minutes.

DENVER -- Despite playing a mile above sea level, the Washington Bullets' shooting reached the lowest of lows.The Bullets watched the Denver Nuggets run away for a 123-104 victory at McNichols Sports Arena last night.After opening its seven-game, 11-day Western road swing with two victories, Washington has lost two in three nights.Washington fell to 15-33, and Denver, which won its 10th in a row at home, improved to 20-28.For the night, Washington made 37 of 86 field-goal attempts (43.0 percent)

NBA E. Jordan seeks 76ers job; James unanimous All-NBA Former Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan has expressed interest in the Philadelphia 76ers head coaching job and hopes to meet with team president Ed Stefanski by the end of the weekend. Jordan, who was fired by the Wizards in November, interviewed with the Sacramento Kings this week. He said he planned to speak with Stefanski after the Sixers president returned from Chuck Daly's funeral in Florida. "I hate to use the word anxious, but I would like to get back in," Jordan said.

Calhoun will coach UConn in 2nd round col. hoops Jim Calhoun will coach Connecticut today, two days after he was hospitalized in Philadelphia for dehydration. The coach, 66, was released from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania yesterday morning, then ran practice. In Calhoun's absence, associate head coach George Blaney coached the Huskies in their 103-47 win over Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Connecticut will play Texas A&M in a second-round game.

Karl says Anthony 'crossed the line' nba notes Carmelo Anthony's checkered reputation has taken another hit. The two-time Olympian served a one-game suspension last night handed down by the Denver Nuggets because coach George Karl tried to put him on the bench and he refused. "In my mind, that crossed the line," Karl said. Anthony (Towson Catholic) wasn't with the Nuggets when they played on the road against the Detroit Pistons. "I saw him yesterday. I didn't see him today," Karl said last night.

A week of rest was all Carmelo Anthony needed to rediscover his scoring touch. Playing the defenseless New York Knicks probably helped, too. Anthony (Towson Catholic) scored 32 points after missing three games with a bruised right elbow, and the visiting Denver Nuggets sent the Knicks to their sixth straight loss with a 117-110 victory yesterday. It was just the third 30-point game this season for Anthony, who has been bothered by the elbow since he was originally hurt in a win over the Houston Rockets on Nov. 30. The Nuggets decided to give their leading scorer a break after he averaged just 11.5 points on 8-for-27 shooting in losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns on consecutive nights.

Chauncey Billups is learning on the job. Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets keep winning. Carmelo Anthony (Towson Catholic) scored 24 points, Billups had 16 points and 10 assists, and host Nuggets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 100-90, last night. Billups, who came to Denver last week in a deal that sent Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons, said he's still getting used to his new teammates. That didn't stop him from playing a key role despite shooting 2-for-13 from the field. "This is like night and day from what I'm used to, and that's not a bad thing," Billups said.

The Boston Celtics' Big 3 outplayed the Houston Rockets' trio of stars last night. Ray Allen scored 29 points, Kevin Garnett added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and the Celtics shut down Ron Artest and Yao Ming in a 103-99 victory over the host Rockets. Tracy McGrady scored 26 points for Houston. Mavericks 98, Spurs 81: : Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points, Jason Terry added 29 in his first start of the season and Dallas' victory gave host San Antonio its first 0-3 record in 35 years. The Mavericks also received 14 points from Josh Howard.

I don't think we'll ever see another player as polarizing as Allen Iverson in my lifetime. Throughout his career, he has been used as a symbol to explain everything that is right with the modern NBA and everything that is wrong about the modern NBA. Personally, I always thought Iverson got unfairly blamed for a lot of things, among them the playoff failings in Philadelphia and Denver. The Nuggets' problem wasn't that Iverson and Carmelo Anthony couldn't jell; they jelled quite nicely.

Carmelo Anthony can take your breath away. He can also make you furious. He can dust off one of the biggest smiles in sports, make you forget every foolish thing he has ever done, and then he can throw away all that goodwill with one immature decision. He is, at the same time, fascinating and frustrating, the rare professional athlete whose public reputation is in constant flux. The Denver Nuggets All-Star forward pleaded guilty yesterday to a reduced charge of driving while ability-impaired and failure to stay in a single lane and was sentenced to probation and community service for an incident on an Denver highway in April.

Denver Nuggets star and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony was arrested early yesterday morning and charged with driving under the influence, according to Denver police. The arrest came just hours after the Nuggets moved to the brink of making the NBA playoffs with a win over the Houston Rockets. Anthony, 23, is the team's second-leading scorer. Police said Anthony, who was stopped at about 4 a.m. on Interstate 25, failed to keep his silver Mercedes in a single lane or to dim his lights.

In sports, often we're OK with buying in to stereotypes. I don't mean nasty, black-hearted stereotypes that pigeonhole whole ethnic groups, but rather those wide-world-of-fun-and-games stereotypes. You know what I'm talking about. Duke basketball. Alex Rodriguez. The Oakland Raiders. Steadfastly clinging to a narrow perspective about players and teams keeps sports familiar to us, which means comfortable. And sometimes, we're reluctant to give up certain strong beliefs because to do otherwise would require us to admit we might have been wrong.