Michael Jordan is watching.

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony found that out last week.

Two days after Anthony declined to enter the game in the fourth quarter of a March 19 game at Detroit, his cell phone rang. It was Jordan.

"He called me," said Anthony, who endorses Nike's Jordan Brand shoes. "We talk sometimes."

It seems Jordan was displeased with what he had heard about the incident. He told Anthony about Scottie Pippen's image being hurt after he declined to enter a Chicago Bulls playoff game 10 years ago.

"Yeah," said Anthony, when asked if Jordan expressed some disappointment. "He was on the outside looking in. I don't hear everything that's going on. . . . He told me that it was over with. I just have to learn from my experiences."

George Karl says he wants to return to the NBA next season as a head coach. He says he would prefer to be in the Western Conference.

But Karl stopped short of saying Sunday he would be interested in the Denver Nuggets position if the team elects not to bring back Jeff Bzdelik.

There has been speculation among NBA insiders that the Nuggets would be interested in Karl if Bzdelik is not retained. Not only does Karl have the 15th-best winning percentage in NBA history, he and Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke have a business relationship, both being investors in a health club in Columbus, Ohio.

The New York Daily News touched upon Karl's possible future with Denver on Saturday. NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence wrote, "Looking to return to coaching, George Karl reportedly has his eye on three jobs: Denver (which is going to open), Dallas (which may open) and Portland (which is not going to open)."

"I can't deny that I'd like to get back in," Karl said in a telephone interview. "There's no question that I miss coaching."

The Denver Nuggets already have Jon Barry on their roster, but one Barry is rarely enough.

The Nuggets are set to make a run at Sonics guard Brent Barry this offseason, believing that he fits the teams up-tempo style.  Seattle, however, is not about to let Barry go without a fight, trying unsuccessfully to sign him to a contract extension earlier this season.

"My first choice is to have work," Barry said Friday before facing the Nuggets at KeyArena.

Brent and Jon Barry have been in the league together since 1995 but have never been on the same team, and with Jon on a one year contract even if Brent did come aboard this still isn't guaranteed.  It is, however, a nice theory.

"We haven't talked about it, but I don't think either of us would be against something like that," Brent said. "It would be an interesting scenario.

"It would be a lot of fun for our wives and our kids. Having a chance to spend time together would be really worthwhile, but obviously nothing like that has happened to this point."

If the Sonics have their way, Jon and Brent will have to continue their long-distance relationship. Brent Barry's importance to Seattle has been highlighted during the team's recent late-season surge.

The Sonics lost 15 of 20 games while Barry was sidelined because of a broken hand, and they went on a six-game win streak after he returned from a hip injury.

"He's a big part of this team. He's equal to Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis," Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. "Our plans are to re-sign him. He's the leader of this team."

"Not just me, but I think it's attractive for a lot of free agents in the league to see what (general manager) Kiki Vandeweghe's been able to do with the franchise in a short period of time," Barry said.

It looks like a LeBron landslide.

The Rocky Mountain News this week polled 66 members of the media, most of whom likely will have a vote for NBA Rookie of the Year. The results conjured up memories of Nixon vs. McGovern in 1972.

Asked whether they are likely to vote for Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets or LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers for Rookie of the Year, 51 of the respondents chose James. Only six chose Anthony, and the remaining nine said it's too close to call or they will split their vote, which the NBA does not allow.

Of the respondents who made a choice, 89 percent went with James. For most of the season, it has been believed the race would be close.

"I'm very, very surprised," James said Thursday when informed of the results. "Shocked, really. I think we've both had great seasons."

Anthony did not express surprise. He said he had heard rumblings in the past few weeks about James gaining support in the rookie race because of Cleveland's push toward the playoffs.

"I knew it," he said. "I just try to keep it in the back of my mind and don't listen to it. . . . If I could get the award, it would be a great honor. If I don't, it's not going to be the last of anything. It's just the start of my career."

DENVER (AP) The Denver Nuggets activated forward Chris Andersen from injured reserve Wednesday and placed forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili on the injured list with a sprained ankle.

Andersen missed six games with patellar tendinitis in his left knee. He has averaged 3.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 29 games. Andersen also is second in the league in blocked shots per 48 minutes at 5.21.

Tskitishvili has been used sparingly, averaging 2.6 points in 22 games.

Not many of these current Nuggets have been in this position before.  Here we are, mid to late March and the words Nuggets and Playoffs can still be used in the same sentence without laughing.  It is not unrealistic to believe that some of these players would be feeling pressures they are not used to, and for those guys coach Jeff Bzdelik's advice is simple; deal with it!

"This is the first time they've had this kind of pressure," Bzdelik said Monday before the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers. "I had an agent of one our players who plays an awful lot tell me the other day, 'My client has never played in a meaningful game after March 1.' "

Of the 12 players on Denver's active roster, four have been in the playoffs: center Marcus Camby, guards Jon Barry and Voshon Lenard and forward Michael Doleac.

Point guard Andre Miller played in the 1998 NCAA championship game with Utah but never has been part of the NBA's postseason.

"There's always going to be some pressures, especially when you've never been to the playoffs," Miller said.

Carmelo Anthony?s feelings were hurt when the Pistons chose not to draft him or have him work out last June. On March 6 in Denver, after Anthony had talked about making the Pistons regret their decision, he endured an awful 3-for-17 shooting night while getting abused defensively by Tayshaun Prince and Corliss Williamson.

The worst, though, had to be what happened at The Palace on Friday. Rarely do you see a team?s chemistry unravel as publicly as we saw the Nuggets? unravel, and Anthony was at the heart of it.

?I really don?t feel like talking,? was all he would say afterward.

Anthony started strongly, making eight of his first 14 shots and scoring 16 of his 20 points in the first half. But, he would make just one of his next six shots, raising the ire of his teammates and coaches with his poor shot selection and lack of effort on defense.

?He got off early, but we weren?t challenging him,? Chauncey Billups said. ?When we did challenge him, he stopped.?

Rodney White was mad. He took it out on the Boston Celtics.

White, a Denver Nuggets forward, sat out the first half Wednesday and stewed. He finally entered the game with 4 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter and the Nuggets trailing 75-64.

"It was frustrating I didn't get in in the first half," White said. "I just took my frustrations out on the court."

It almost led to a comeback win. Playing the rest of the game, White shot 6-for-9 and scored 13 points.

"This whole year has been like a trial," said White, referring to inconsistent minutes he receives under coach Jeff Bzdelik. "He's tried to take me out of the game. But I fought my way back in. Hopefully, that showed him.

"I don't understand why I'm not playing and why he goes away from me. But that's the coach's decision. . . . But I feel like I bounce back every time, although it seems like nobody notices."

At times this season, White has been in the rotation. Other times, he has played sparingly.

"You know what?" Bzdelik said. "I don't have to explain playing time."

DENVER (AP) Jon Barry stared blankly into the distance, his answers curt and disjointed. Andre Miller spoke in hushed tones and never lifted his head. Carmelo Anthony changed clothes in a back room and slipped out a side door.

None of the Denver Nuggets were in much of a talking mood after Saturday night's 97-66 loss to Detroit, becoming the first team in 54 years to fail to have a player score in double figures.

``It's alarming,'' Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said. ``Over 82 games you're going to have a lot of jewels and some bummers. This was a bummer.''

Behind rookie star Anthony and an uptempo style, Denver went through the first two-third of the season as one of the NBA's surprise teams. The Nuggets got off to their best start in 14 years, eclipsing last year's win total (17) by Dec. 22 and leading the Midwest Division well into December.

The past three weeks have been different.

The Nuggets, losers of seven of eight heading into Sunday night's game against Indiana, are clinging to the final Western Conference playoff spot. But their schedule only gets tougher, with six of the next seven games on the road.

``This is the last month of the season,'' Miller said. ``This is what players look forward to, as far as trying to get to the playoffs.''

Saturday night was a low point.

Denver, on pace to have the second-best scoring improvement in one season, ranks fifth in the league with 97.3 points per game. But against the Pistons, the Nuggets looked more like the team that set the all-time low for scoring in an 82-game season with 84.2 points last year.

Denver missed eight of its first 10 shots to fall behind 12-4, then missed their final 11 shots in the second quarter to fall behind 56-37 at halftime.

It didn't get any better in the third quarter.

Denver didn't have a field goal until Miller hit a leaner with 5:41 left, which mercifully ended Detroit's 40-5 run and the Nuggets' string of 19 straight misses.

Anthony had the worst of it, missing his first seven shots and finishing 3-for-17 with just one shot attempt over the final 25{ minutes. He was one of six Denver players to finish with eight points, making the Nuggets the first team without a scorer in double figures since the shot clock was implemented in 1954-55.

The last time a team failed to have a double-figures scorer was Nov. 22, 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18.

``That was just embarrassing,'' Barry said. ``Take your pick. Anything basketball-related, you can say we were bad at it.''

Think you've got a problem with authority?

Well, this is how conflicted people around the NBA are about the officiating at the moment: On Sunday, Rasheed Wallace actually restrained someone else from going after a ref.

That someone was his coach, Larry Brown, who put the finishing touches on one of the most lawless stretches in memory by getting himself tossed out late in the first quarter of an eventual 100-83 win by his Detroit Pistons over the Los Angeles Clippers.

The details aren't worth recounting beyond the man-bites-dog angle that Wallace, one of the league's genuine matchheads, provided by stepping between Brown and referee Bill Spooner as a peacemaker. Then again, a lot of people in the NBA have been acting funny around the officials lately.

Orlando star Tracy McGrady kicked off ref-a-palooza in a game against Denver 10 days ago. Upset over a call, McGrady punted the basketball into the stands, and as soon as it was returned, punted it back into the crowd. That same night, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan began ripping official Leon Wood right after the final buzzer and didn't stop until security guards intervened. Sensing rebellion in the air, Seattle's normally mild-mannered Ray Allen went off on the refs that night, too, though he saved his rant for the postgame.

The league responded with the usual wrist slaps, fining McGrady and Allen $10,000 each and letting Jordan off with $7,500. Fat lot of good that did. Two nights later, the Wizards' Jerry Stackhouse vented his frustration over a call by tossing a basketball into the stands, a heave that cost him $5,000. But all those episodes did was set the stage for Wednesday night's game between the Lakers and Nuggets at Denver.

With the Nuggets leading 111-109 late in the game, a shot by Denver's Andre Miller appeared to brush the rim and teammate Carmelo Anthony got the rebound. Before he could put the ball back up, referee Michael Henderson blew the whistle for a shot-clock violation. But after huddling with fellow officials Jack Nies and Jess Kersey, they decided to instead label the call an inadvertent whistle. The Lakers won the subsequent jump ball, and Kareem Rush hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left.

After the buzzer sounded: Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik started raging about being robbed and had to be restrained; the refs made a dash for the tunnel while being pelted with ice by fans; and Nuggets center Marcus Camby followed them into the hallway throwing curses and a towel.

Some people have argued that the league's officiating has never been worse. After sorting through reports from the Lakers-Nuggets game the next day, Stu Jackson, the league's lord of discipline, gave them some more ammunition.

``This was an unfortunate call at a highly critical point in the game, and we very much regret the error,'' Jackson said.

Henderson hasn't worked a game since and is due in New York for a meeting Tuesday with the league's officiating supervisors. Though Jackson refused to label it a suspension, National Basketball Referees Association attorney Lamell Morris did just that and called the action ``unprecedented.''

But then a funny thing happened. Support for the refs started pouring in.

In a show of solidarity, 28 of the 30 officials working Friday wore their jerseys backward with a hand-lettered No. ``62'' _ Henderson's number _ on the back. Quickly getting into the spirit of things, the Clippers Quentin Richardson pulled his jersey out of his shorts in the third quarter _ ``I told them I was protesting with them; I was going to protest whatever they was protesting,'' he said _ and then the Knicks' Stephon Marbury followed suit.

``He saw me doing it and he said, 'I'm protesting too,''' Richardson recalled. ``It was funny.''

While the refs calling the game happily looked the other way, NBA commissioner David Stern wasn't laughing.

``Last night's display was woefully inconsistent with the professionalism with which NBA officials normally conduct themselves,'' Stern said in a statement. ``There is nothing more to say at this time.''

True to its word, the league has said nothing since, perhaps because the loss may wind up costing the Nuggets a chances to make the playoffs for the first time since 1995.

But it hasn't stopped traffic in the other direction. Until the NBA beat up one of its refs, players and coaches lined up most nights and volunteered to do it for them. Now, they're providing testimonials instead.

``The referees are like any human beings. We don't suspend players for making mistakes,'' Dallas coach Don Nelson said. ``If we did, we'd have nobody on our roster.''

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Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org