Carmelo Anthony sat on the floor next to the Denver Nuggets bench, sheathed in a yellow practice shirt and seemingly impervious to the chants of ‘We want ‘Melo!’ emanating from the Carrier Dome crowd.

Anthony, Syracuse’s iconic former national champion, had played 24 minutes during his Denver Nuggets’ NBA exhibition contest against the Phoenix Suns at the Dome Friday. That, he decided, was enough.

‘It’s been a long summer, man,’ said Anthony, who was part of the United States Olympic basketball team that won gold in Beijing this summer. ‘I wish I could have went back in there.’

Still, Anthony gave the 22,115 in attendance their money’s-worth in his return home. He scored 14 points, hauled in nine boards and dished five assists in those 24 minutes, helping his Nuggets edge the Suns, 94-91, in the Ralph Crawford McDonald’s NBA Classic.

The matchup between two Western Conference playoff teams bought plenty of big names to Syracuse, including Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Amare Stoudamire and Steve Nash (the latter two didn’t play). But it was Anthony who stole most of the adoration from the crowd.

‘It brought back a lot of memories,’ said Anthony, now 24 years old. ‘We went 17-0 my year here. … It was good to be back here in front of the fans I played in front of several years ago.’

That 2003 season, the then-freshman prodded Syracuse to its only national title, earning the final four’s most outstanding player award. Anthony left after that season – drafted No. 3 overall by the Nuggets. But time away has done little to erode his heroic status among SU fans.

During player introductions, Anthony was last to be introduced, drawing a raucous ovation from the crowd dyed equal parts orange and powder blue (the Nuggets signature color).

The cheers continued when Anthony tallied the first two points of the night, taking an Iverson dish and rising up for a two-handed slam. Anthony scored all 14 of his points in the first half, eight of those in the first quarter. Eight of his points came via his signature, mid-range jump shot. In all, Anthony shot 6-for-14 from the field.

‘I just wanted to get everybody involved, play ‘D’ and rebound,’ Anthony said. ‘We have guys on the team who are trying to make the team, so I wanted to give them a chance to go out there and showcase their talents and try to make the team.’

Anthony’s return took on a carnival atmosphere. At halftime, men’s head coach Jim Boeheim played a game of ping-pong at mid-court against a ‘random’ fan. The fan turned out to be Sue Li, an accomplished professional. (Li made quick work of Boeheim.)

The loudest cheer of the night came between the third and fourth quarters, when a fan successfully re-created SU legend Pearl Washington’s halfcourt, buzzer-beater to defeat Boston College in 1984. Washington was on hand to provide a little coaching assistance.

The festive atmosphere masked an otherwise sloppy contest (the teams combined for 45 turnovers) sprinkled with a few memorable moments. O’Neal played the first quarter and awed the crowd with a thunderous two-handed dunk off an alley-oop. J.R. Smith, Denver’s high-flying guard, led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Iverson, meanwhile, managed four points in 27 minutes before tweaking his ankle in the third quarter. ‘I told him, ‘you’re the first Georgetown Hoya that ever got cheered for in this building,” Anthony joked afterward.

Anthony started the second half but only played eight minutes, watching his team squeak out a victory. He spent most of the fourth quarter seated on the floor next to the Nuggets’ bench, bantering with Iverson and other members of the team around him.

‘I asked him if he wanted to go back in, and he said no,’ Denver head coach George Karl said. ‘I would have let him go back in.

‘I thought he did great,’ Karl said. ‘Defensively, he had a great effort.’

After the horn blew, signaling the end of the game, Anthony strolled out onto the court and held up a finger in salute to the crowd. As he exited, he took his size-15 shoes off and hurled them deep into the stands.

‘That’s the least I can do, throw my shoes in the stands,’ Anthony said. ‘I wish I could have gave my jersey, but my equipment manager wasn’t having that.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on October 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm