Carmelo Anthony scored 17 of his 31 points in the 4th quarter to lead the Nuggets back from 11 points down in a 94-93 win over the Hornets.

Anthony stepped up with one of his most impressive performances of the season following the ejection of Kenyon Martin.

``We were a little rattled, so we had to get everybody together and just tell them, 'Look, let's cut the lead down and we'll fight back from there,''' Anthony said. ``Somebody had to get it going out there.''

Dan Dickau scored 22 points for the Hornets.  Speedy Claxton scored 5 points in his first game for New Orleans.

The Denver Nuggets have signed F/C Mark Pope to a second 10-day contract, team General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe announced today.

Pope has appeared in three games since signing his first 10-day on Feb. 15, registering one steal and one block in five minutes.

ESPN and the Denver Post are reporting that the Orlando Magic turned down an offer from the Nuggets that would have sent Andre Miller, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Voshon Lenard to Orlando for Steve Francis.

Francis was acquired by the Magic in the Tracy McGrady trade, but has been problematic of late, as he was unhappy following the trade of Cuttino Mobley and just recently he was late returning to the team after the All-Star break.

George Karl is not concealing his desire to add a shooting guard to his line-up, speaking candidly about two players that he coached when he was with the Bucks, Michael Redd and Ray Allen.

"I don't think Milwaukee will trade us Redd," Karl said. "And I think Seattle likes who they are right now, and they'll try to figure out Ray in the summer time."

For these two reasons, he doesn't anticpate a trade happening for the Nuggets this season.

"Trades that are made now are desperate trades," Karl said. "I don't think we're in a state of desperation. I think we're in a good place. Let's make this season special."

For those who believe Carmelo Anthony is out of the race for best player from the 2003 Draft, well behind LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, it might be good to consider his current health status, which might be far worse than it appears.

"I talked to our trainer, and he said it's going to take another two weeks of progress before he's going to be able to jump and cut," Vandeweghe said. "It's basically all about the ankles. He sprained them so badly. In retrospect, one thing I would have done is hold him out for a while. I'm second-guessing myself there. ... If we had held him out, by now his ankles would be fine. You've got to be proud of him. He wanted to play when the team was struggling."

They may not have seen eye to eye when they were master and pupil in Milwaukee, but this seems to be in the past with Ray Allen saying he is open to playing for new Denver coach George Karl, Allen's coach with the Bucks, the Rocky Mountain News is reporting.

"When the time comes it, if it comes to that, definitely I wouldn't turn that down," Allen said. "I can look at it and try to figure out if that will be best for my career, if it's going to be a good situation. I wouldn't say 'no' because George is the coach because I have nothing against George."

Karl on Friday night again seemed ready to make amends. "I can't deny that toward the end of our time in Milwaukee things started to turn south," he said.

"And looking back, a lot of those problems were probably caused by some of the decisions I made. But as far as a basketball player, Ray Allen was always first-class."

Allen, traded to Seattle during the 2002 season for Gary Payton, said he suffered from Karl's comparisons of him to Payton.

"One of the ways we went wrong is (Karl) always wanted Gary Payton for the organization in Milwaukee," Allen said. "When he talked about things, he wanted me to do better, it was almost like he wanted me to be Gary Payton."

The Nuggets could have about $7 million in salary cap room after the season.

Carmelo Anthony didn't have to travel far to pick up the MVP award of the Rookie Challenge.  Anthony scored 31 points, leading the sophomores to a 133-106 win over the rookies.

``I know he can play the game of basketball,'' Lebron James said of Anthony. ``Things haven't gone his way so far this year, but he's trying to get his mind straight. ...I'm so happy for him that he got the MVP tonight. It was supposed to happen this way.''

Anthony was not named to the All-Star game and had a lot to prove in the game, as he has been overshadowed by his fellow second-year players, Dwyane Wade and James.

``I go out there and I play basketball,'' he said. ``I can't put my head down because I didn't make the game. Like I tell everybody, this is only my second year in the NBA. I'm going to be here for a long time. I'm not going anywhere.''

The Denver Nuggets signed forward/center Mark Pope to a 10-day contract, team General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe announced today.

Pope was placed on the injured list on November 1st and remained there until he was waived by the team on January 5th.  Pope was with the Nuggets the entire 2003-04 season appearing in four games.

With center Marcus Camby already out with a bruised right hip, the Denver Nuggets will be short another big man after Camby?s replacement Nene sprained his left medial collateral ligament in last night 94-79 loss to New Jersey.

"It's been an interesting year," Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. "Every couple of games, somebody gets injured."

Nene is expected to be out at least the next couple of games.

Kenyon Martin must have been happy with the reaction he received from the New Jersey crowd in his first return to the arena where be began his career, but with only 13 points and 4 rebounds and a 15-point loss, it was ultimately disappointing.

The Nets held the Nuggets for 11-minutes without a basket, beating George Karl's club by a final score of 94-79.

Vince Carter scored 23 points, as he continues his fine play.

``I had a great four years here,'' Martin said. ``Fans appreciate a guy who plays hard every night. That's what I did.''