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Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony talked for the first time today about his suspension for not coming out of Sunday's game, saying the incident was behind him.

"This situation was very, very small," Anthony said after the team's practice at the Pepsi Center. "Some of my teammates didn't even know what happened. The only people that knew what happened was me, (Nuggets coach) George (Karl) and the person that subbed me in.

"I've put it behind me."

As a result of the one-game suspension, Anthony missed Tuesday night's loss at Detroit. He watched from a hotel room. He said he should have come out of the game in the third quarter Sunday at Indiana when Karl subbed for him.

"I should have came out the game," Anthony said. "If you're a basketball player and you know how it feels when you get it going finally, your competitiveness starts coming out.

"When somebody comes to sub you out, I guess you're supposed to go out. But like I said it's one of them things. I felt like I wanted to stay in the game, and still make a run and try to win that game. It was a road game, we needed it, it happens."

And the next time he is subbed for?

"I'm going to run to the bench," Anthony quipped. "I'm going to run hard to the bench."

denverpost

Great response from Carmelo.

I can see why people are mad at Karl for resting the starters 4 minutes into the 4th, but I really don't see why everyone is mad at him for pulling Carmelo with 1:38 to go in the 3rd, especially after they had made a run to get up by 5. Coaches usually rest their starters right around then because they can get an extended rest in between periods.

Even resting the starters for part of the 4th makes sense if he wanted them to be able to finish the game at full strength. Coaches do that often as well. That time it didn't work, obviously.

Perhaps Melo saw a need for retaining a competitive edge through the end. Of course what he might want to think about is just playing better up to that point so he doesn't need to feel so competitive he needs to ignore an order.

But great response. Almost can't expect more.

"I should have came out the game," Anthony said. "If you're a basketball player and you know how it feels when you get it going finally, your competitiveness starts coming out.

Seems most of us had it right. Instead of coaching the game, Karl wanted to stick to his pre-game plan of when to sub. You don't sub out one of the best scorers in the league, when he starts feeling it.

Melo had it right, Mr. Emo Coach had it wrong. It wasn't a big deal, but Mr. Emo Coach is also a drama queen and had to cost the team another game, because the big bad Melo disagreed with a bad coaching decision.

At least Melo is able to act like an adult over the situation, same can't be said for Karl.

elbowthrower -> No coach leaves the backups in for over 4 minutes and sits there watching them give the game away.

He did it too lol

I can't believe so much was made of this situation. I don't understand why Coach Karl couldn't have just handled it by talking to Melo after the game and getting on the same page.

LeBron has told Mike Brown he didn't want to come out of the game more than a few times over the past 3 years or so. There has to be a healthy working relationship and to see something this small get blown up shows me there isn't one in Denver.

cavsfan_osiris wrote:I can't believe so much was made of this situation. I don't understand why Coach Karl couldn't have just handled it by talking to Melo after the game and getting on the same page.

LeBron has told Mike Brown he didn't want to come out of the game more than a few times over the past 3 years or so. There has to be a healthy working relationship and to see something this small get blown up shows me there isn't one in Denver.

You got it right.

There is a reason why we call Karl the biggest diva in the NBA.