Melo has come a long way -- now Denver needs more

Carmelo Anthony (left) could do worse than patterning his game after Paul Pierce's. Elsa/Getty Images

BOSTON -- Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony were chasing and bumping up against each other Wednesday night, and it was as if they were versions of the same person. The main advantage being that Pierce is seven years the elder.

At 30, Pierce's game is peaking: Those seven years have taught him how to exploit his All-Star teammates to their benefit as well as his own. On Wednesday, he looked a step ahead of Anthony, who -- to be fair -- was coming off a loss in New York on Tuesday, was playing without any of the Denver Nuggets' three injured point guards and was overwhelmed by the Celtics' renewed defense.

"I could have been the most crafty person tonight and still could have done nothing against four people,'' Anthony said after going for 11 points (3-for-13) in the Nuggets' 119-93 loss. "I've seen double teams a lot, but I've never seen a defense like that. Every time I touch the ball, I'm playing against my man, I'm playing against [Kevin] Garnett, I'm playing against [Kendrick] Perkins and I'm playing against Ray Allen, he's plugging in there too.''

A night like this should help complete Anthony's game, encouraging him to punish the defense by finding the open man. He was trying to do just that to the result of a team-leading six assists. But he didn't have to look far for a vision of his ultimate destiny, as he tried and failed to prevent Pierce from backhanding spectacular passes to Perkins underneath the basket. The Celtics' lead ballooned to 41 points in the second quarter as Pierce achieved an offensive balance that was almost Bird-like.

But it wasn't always so for Pierce, who finished with 26 points (on 15 shots), five assists and five steals in 30 minutes Wednesday. When George Karl was coaching Team USA during the 2002 FIBA World Championships, he criticized Pierce for being too much the finisher and not enough the playmaker. But over the last couple of years, Pierce has matured from a prolific scorer into an MVP-capable talent, and Anthony has the same potential.

"There have been other people that have compared Pierce to Melo,'' said Karl, the Nuggets' coach. "Pierce is one of the few guys in basketball who can put a triple-double up anytime he plays. We've tried to push Melo in that direction to be more rebound-oriented, more pass-oriented, more than just scoring. And in a lot of ways, Pierce showed him a clinic tonight.''

Here's another difference: The opportunity to play with Garnett and Allen arrived when Pierce was ready to exploit it. Of course, Pierce would have been happy to be teamed with older stars during his fifth year in the league -- the stage at which Anthony finds himself playing with Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin. Would the younger Pierce have been capable of integrating and leading such an old team? Maybe not.

The Nuggets have no time for such musings. Both Camby and Iverson routinely remind Anthony that they need to win now, that this may be their last chance at a championship, and that Anthony needs to lead them whether he's ready or not.

"He went to the Finals with Philly,'' Camby said of Iverson, "and I went to the Finals with New York -- but not with as much talent as we have on this team. Me and Allen's window is definitely shortened and we feel fortunate to play with a great player like Carmelo.''

But ...

"We've got to do it now,'' Camby said. "Especially with our team, we're way over the luxury tax so who knows how this team is going to shape out over the next couple of years. Carmelo may go through times he doesn't even make the playoffs, so I don't want him dwelling back on the time where he'd be, like, 'I wish we did it when we had [these] players.' "

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