Nuggets guard Allen Iverson will miss Wednesday's game against the Trail Blazers in Portland after spraining his right ankle.

Iverson was hurt in the Nuggets' 105-101 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday in Denver. X-rays were negative.

"I thought that when I did it in the first quarter it was going to go away," Iverson said on Monday, according to the Rocky Mountain News. "I thought I just rolled it and that was that, but it continued to bother me throughout the game. It tightened up on me real bad when I came out in the fourth quarter."

Denver coach George Karl said Iverson didn't get on the court at all Tuesday at the morning shoot around before the team departed for Portland.

Carlos Boozer had 25 points and 19 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat Denver 116-111 on Friday night to hand the Nuggets their first loss since Carmelo Anthony rejoined the team.

Utah lost Andrei Kirilenko with a sprained ankle in the second quarter and coach Jerry Sloan had to go to his younger players, especially with the foul trouble Anthony and Allen Iverson were causing.

Allen Iverson's driving layup with 2:04 left in the second quarter of the Nuggets' 117-112 win at the Sonics on Jan. 23, 2007 made him the 30th NBA player to reach the 20,000-point plateau. He finished the game with 21 points and 10 assists. His 28.1 career scoring average ranks behind just Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time list.

Iverson is one of just three active players in the club, joining a pair of Heat: Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton. The Nets' Clifford Robinson (19,471 career points) is the only other current player with a realistic chance to join their elite company this season.

Now in his 11th season, Iverson needed just 713 regular-season games to score his 20,015 points - that's the sixth fewest of those 30 players. Only Chamberlain, Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor accomplished the feat faster.

An equipment manager informed Allen Iverson that he was going to deflate the game ball and stuff it into the guard's bag to commemorate his 20,000th NBA point.

"Thanks, buddy. Appreciate that, buddy," Iverson said late Tuesday night, using his nickname for the many folks he doesn't yet know after four weeks with the Nuggets.

"Just get me a ball for every win. That's all I want a ball for."

Act II of the Iverson-Carmelo Anthony experiment showed there might be many of those in store for Denver.

Allen Iverson raced downcourt and floated an alley-oop lob that Carmelo Anthony shoved one-handed through the hoop for an arena-rattling jam, one that seemed to holler to all their doubters, "Take that!"

Anthony scored 28 points in his return from a 15-game suspension for fighting and Iverson added 23 in the Nuggets' 115-98 rout of the Grizzlies.

Nuggets coach George Karl did the math and it didn't add up: Denver star Carmelo Anthony drew a 15-game suspension for his fight, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett got a one-game penalty for another brawl.

"Obviously, if you land the punch it's 14 games," Karl said Monday. "Throwing one is one (game) and hitting (someone) is 14. That's the equation I read. I'm just a simple guy. I couldn't pass calculus."

Anthony was set to return Monday night when Memphis visited Denver. He had been out since throwing a punch during a wild brawl against the New York Knicks on Dec. 16.

Carmelo Anthony's suspension is over. Let the suspense begin.

The day after the NBA's leading scorer was banned for 15 games for fighting, the Denver Nuggets acquired seven-time All-Star Allen Iverson, who was the league's second-leading scorer at the time.  

Can two high-scoring superstars coexist?

This past week, the NBA ordered its security forces in all 29 cities to come up with a list of clubs and other night spots that should be made off-limits to players.

The shooting death of Darrent Williams is a motivating factor in the directive.

Once the clubs are identified, with the help of local law enforcement, the league will send a directive to teams mandating that players avoid those spots or be subject to a substantial fine.

Eduardo Najera says that is leaning toward not opting out of his contract next summer.

"It makes sense (to not)," he said. "It's a lot of money to just walk out of."

Najera, making $4.57 million this season, can terminate the final year of his six-year, $24 million deal ($4.95 million) and become a free agent.

"It depends how we do here," said Najera, who will study the matter after the season. "How we finish here with the playoffs and what kind role I'm going to have."

Nene admitted last week he's overweight and underproducing. If the diet works, the Nuggets expect to see a more nimble and productive big man down the stretch, which would help them make a strong playoff push, having already lost power forward Kenyon Martin early in the season.

"I trust him. I listen to him," Nene said of Steve Hess, the team's strength and conditioning coach. "If it doesn't work, we'll see."

It seems to be working. Nene, 6-foot-11, weighed about 273 pounds last week, according to Hess, but Wednesday checked in at 268. The Nuggets would like him to get to 265. With the help of the diet plan Hess recently put him on, Nene hopes to slim down - and turn around what has been a disappointing season.

"Once he loses 5 pounds he'll be better," Hess said. "Once he loses 5, it will be easier to lose 10. It's not that he just tries to lose the weight; once he loses, he'll still play and practice. So we have to make sure everything is functioning. He still has to play basketball and lose weight. We've got to make sure he balances the whole thing."