As the regular season comes to a close, the Denver Nuggets' toughest competition is a team they don't even play.

"Portland," Nuggets coach George Karl said Tuesday, "is not going to make it easy on us."

Denver is in fifth place in the Western Conference, 1 1/2 games ahead of Portland.

The Blazers have eight games remaining and only three are on the road (against New Orleans, Utah and, in the final game of the season, Golden State). But four of Portland's five home games are against playoff teams in the Thunder, Mavericks, Lakers and Grizzlies.

As for the Nuggets, they start with a home-and-home set against the Kings. Then they face four playoff teams: at the Lakers, home against the Thunder, at the Mavericks and then at the Thunder. They finish with home games against Minnesota and Golden State and a road game against Utah.

"The playoffs begin right about now," said Karl. "There's going to be a game almost every night that has a playoff intensity to it because of the playoff ramifications."

Among the more interesting tidbits in David Aldridge’s column on the pro potential of this year’s crop of point guards is UConn’s Kemba Walker drawing comparison to Houston’s Kyle Lowry and Denver’s Ty Lawson.

"Walker's had the better year (than Kentucky’s Brandon Knight), he's got the buzz, he had the great Big East tournament, but he's probably 5-foot-10," a veteran personnel man told Aldridge. "If you look around the NBA, it doesn't mean you can't play. Earl Boykins proved you can play. But how many guys come into the NBA and dominate under six feet? That doesn't mean the guy can't play. I don't see him playing with the toughness of a Kyle Lowry, but I could see him coming in and being as effective as him."

One Pacific Division personnel man insists Walker will be the second point guard taken in the draft:

"You look at Ty Lawson and what he's done and he's a little more dynamic than Ty. He has more of a defensive mindset than last year and he's kind of evolved into the kind of guy that can get his shot. Splitting pick and rolls, stopping on a dime and shooting the floater. You see NBA players make those plays."

The Nuggets, showcasing some inspired defense, are not just good on the road, they're making history. With their dominating victory at Atlanta on Wednesday night, the Nuggets did something they had never done — win three consecutive road games, each by 10 or more points, each against a team with a winning record.

Now these "road warriors" face their real test: a game tonight at Orlando, followed by a back-to-back game Saturday at Miami to complete a four-game road trip.

"We talked about not having any fear, but having the respect that we're still a team trying to figure out what we're going to do," said Nuggets coach George Karl, whose team is 9-2 since the big trade. "Play hard and play together are the keys. It's not the strategies."

The Nuggets have been blessed with depth with the acquisition of "Knuggets" Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler — and the third member of that trio, Danilo Gallinari, could play tonight for the first time since Feb. 25. That was the night Gallinari scored 30 points at Portland but also fractured the big toe on his left foot.

Karl said, "I think he'll play." The coach also noted, however, that Gallinari has seemed tentative in some workouts. Karl said if Gallinari does play, it'll be for about 20 minutes off the bench.

Asked about Carmelo Anthony's remark about having to learn too many schemes, Mike D'Antoni said, "Anytime you put a team together who haven't had a training camp or [a lot of] practices and the expectations are where they are, you have a tendency to be, oh my gosh, because you're not honed in totally and we're trying to figure out what's good for them."

From the day after the trade, D'Antoni worried about the defensive ramifications. After two losses to league-worst Cleveland and Indiana, his worries have been validated. D'Antoni said yesterday that "offensively and defensively we looked scared at times."

"We're all frustrated," D'Antoni said. "We have to get better defensively. We're going to be a good offensive team. Our major concern is can we be good defensively, and we'll see."

"I knew it would take time, particularly defensively," Knicks president Donnie Walsh said. "You can sit and talk about it all you want but when you get on the floor you have to react real quick, and it's hard for the new guys coming in to react to one another that quickly. They played differently in Denver. It's hard to adjust."

"We're trying to get good at it in a short period of time," Anthony said. "Nobody said it was going to be easy. Guys are still trying to figure it out."

You can feel it at the morning shootaround, the relaxed vibe between Nuggets players and coaches, talking trash, but also talking shop.

You can see it on the court, the ball zipping inside and outside, nobody trying to, as they say in the NBA, "get mine."

You can hear it in the locker room, as after Wednesday's 102-87 win at Atlanta, when Denver's Kenyon Martin said, "It's fun to play basketball the right way — always has been, always will be.

"It just makes everyone want to play that much harder on the defensive end. On the bench, we're talking it out if there's a problem. We're just making adjustments on the fly. We're all staying together." 

The Nuggets (41-27) are 9-2 since trading stars Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to the Knicks.

Yet, asked if the team is better since the trade, forward Al Harrington said Wednesday: "Yeah, we're definitely better. We're just so deep. We have 12 guys that can play any given night. That makes us dangerous."

"With the energy we're playing with, everybody likes playing now," according to head coach George Karl. "Everybody seems to be contributing.  I just enjoy coaching them; they enjoy playing right now."

George Karl discussed Denver's strategy to defend Chris Paul ahead of Monday's game.

“First of all, you’ve got to keep him out of transitional situations, where he’s very good,” Karl said. “And that’s where he’s most comfortable. He’s always going to try to push you, push the ball into a play.

“Half-court, his pick-and-rolls come in every package that we know of. Basically, we’ve got to just put two guys on him and try to keep him out of the paint and away from orchestrating.”

Dallas owner Mark Cuban declared Thursday night the Nuggets made out better than the Knicks in the blockbuster trade for Carmelo Anthony.

"They hit a home run," Cuban said of the package the Nuggets acquired.

Tired of hearing that the Knicks gave up too many pieces to the Nuggets, Anthony fired back at Cuban on Friday.

"I'm pretty sure Cuban's happy that I'm out of the West," said Anthony. "I'm pretty sure if I had come here, that he would have gotten the better end of the deal. So, that's cool."

Since the trade was announced, Anthony has been defensive to accusations that the Knicks gutted their roster in order to get him from Denver.

"I'm sure if any of you guys were GMs or owners, you would want me and Amar'e [Stoudemire] on the same team as well," Anthony said at his introductory press conference. "I don't know who would turn that down."

With the Carmelo Anthony situation behind him and a three-year contract extension signed, George Karl has seemed at ease.

"It seems like the spirit of everything is moving in a very positive way for me," Karl said. "And also, it's kind of closure on a bad year, and hopefully starting into a great year and a great run. I thank the Kroenkes, Stan and Josh. Coaches don't usually get two chapters. But the Melo chapter had a lot of excellent basketball, a lot of good wins. And now everybody is happy with the newness of what is happening." 

Karl received a checkup on his health on Tuesday and received a 'great report'.

"I think I have no problem with our team right now," said Karl. "I think we know the challenges and we have a respect for the challenge. We know that (whether it's) Houston, Phoenix, there are going to be 2, 3 good teams not make the playoffs this year. I thought in the past sometimes we didn't respect the challenge. And because of that, we'd get beat by a team we didn't respect.

"I hope everybody doesn't think we're going to be any good because I'm pretty confident we're going to be (darn) good."

The Nuggets and head coach George Karl have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, the team announced today.

Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“I’ve always said Denver is the place I want to end my career,” Karl said. “This puts me one step closer to achieving that goal. Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke were very professional throughout these negotiations.

“The Kroenkes have been great throughout this entire process. They’ve been very supportive of me as a coach and during my battle with cancer. I’m excited for the remainder of the season and look forward to making another playoff run.”

The Nuggets won't get Danilo Gallinari back this week.

"It's better. We're definitely not ready yet to play, but it's getting better," the forward said of his fractured left big toe. "It's a process, and it's good that it's getting better."

He is hoping to return next week.

Gallinari has missed four games and it appears as though the initial timetable of 7-10 days before he returns will be extended.

"We tried to do some running and jumping but I'm not ready to do that at game-level speed," Gallinari said. "So I'm probably not going to be ready for the next game or two games. I feel discomfort walking, but they told me I'm going to feel discomfort if I want to play anyway — I'm going to play with discomfort until the end of the season. So I will have to play with the discomfort, it's just a matter of trying to come back and not feel pain. Discomfort is fine, but pain is not good."