Nuggets yet to click since ballyhooed Iverson trade

	The Nuggets dropped five of the first seven games Carmelo Anthony (left) and Allen Iverson played together. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

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A legitimate threat to win the whole enchilada.

An irresistible concept.

An absolute home run.

Praise from the NBA cognoscenti couldn't come rosy enough for the Nuggets after they traded Andre Miller, Joe Smith and two first-round draft picks to the Sixers for former MVP Allen Iverson in mid-December. Paired with league-leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, Iverson was expected to make Denver a near-impossible team to defend and elevate it within shouting distance of the West's elite.

A 12-17 post-trade record later, including a startling 2-5 mark through Thursday when Anthony and Iverson have played together, and it's clear Denver's rosy scenario had a few bugs in the garden.

"I wouldn't say we're in a state of emergency," Nuggets center Marcus Camby said in a phone interview Wednesday, a day after Denver was hammered in San Antonio 95-80. "But I'd say we definitely feel that we need to play a whole lot better, especially these last 30 games where we have 17 on the road."

Heading into Friday's showdown with the Northwest Division-leading Jazz, Denver clung to the seventh playoff seed with four teams breathing down its neck. Squeezing into the playoffs wasn't supposed to be the plan with Iverson on board.

"The trade was pretty obvious to the coaching staff," coach George Karl said in a recent phone interview. "We were a playoff team and have been for three years. We have not won in the playoffs and we [felt] AI [would] give us the opportunity this year."

At the very least he has helped make Denver one of the four most prolific offenses in the league, with a team average of 105.1 points a game. Equally important, Iverson has done so while giving Anthony the space to maintain his offensive leadership of the team.

"AI has probably bent over backward to a fault to incorporate Melo," Karl said. "I actually had to yell at him for not taking a shot; he had two or three situations where I thought he overpassed and had alleys to the basket he should have taken."

Since arriving in Denver, Iverson has taken four fewer shots per game and actually raised his assists average, all without a word of concern over shot opportunities. Karl has taken pains to foster a level of peace by stressing to both Iverson and Anthony that by playing within the offense, each will get enough shots to satisfy his ego and help the Nuggets win.

"The ball will find the guy who's open," Karl said. "If they pass the ball and make good decisions, the ball will get back to them. We want to play as fast as we possibly can and play in the open court in as many possessions as we can, and in the open court, you [eventually] want the ball in your best players' hands so they can convert."

Inevitably, though, the ball finds its way into Iverson's or Anthony's hands to the tune of 44 shots a game combined. And that eventuality has made the Denver offense predictable.