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James has hype, but Anthony has team

LeBron James went two picks higher than Carmelo Anthony in the NBA draft, entered the league with more hype and got the better end of the endorsement deals.

But when the two rookie sensations face each other for the second time tonight, Anthony will have one key advantage: a better team.

While Cleveland hasn't been much better with King James than it was without him, Anthony has the Nuggets playing their best basketball in a decade.

"Our confidence level is real high right now," Anthony said. "I'm not saying we're going to beat everybody, but we're going to compete with everybody. That's one thing I know that we're going to do."

At 10-6, Denver is off to its best start since 1994-1995 -- its last playoff appearance -- and is just a half-game behind Dallas in the Midwest Division. The Nuggets have won five straight at home and are 7-1 in Denver, their best start there since 1989-1990.

Not bad for a team that threatened the league's futility mark twice in six years and tied Cleveland for the worst record a year ago.

"I like the Denver team a lot," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "They have good young players. They play hard. They rebound."

And they have Anthony.

After struggling to find his shot early in the season, 'Melo has shot 47 percent the past three games. He's averaging 17.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists, and has given Denver clutch plays.

Anthony hit three 3-pointers in overtime two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Clippers, and he had a key putback over Shawn Bradley late in a win over Dallas on Saturday.

"He's learning with a tremendous amount of responsibility on his shoulders, and he's responding extremely well," Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said.

James hasn't been bad, either.

He's averaging 17.5 points, 7 rebounds and 6.4 assists, while proving the jump from high school to the NBA wasn't too big for him. But it hasn't resulted in many wins.

Cleveland has the league's second-worst record at 4-13 and has lost six straight, including a double-overtime loss to Memphis Saturday after blowing a 24-point lead.

Granted, the six losses have come without power forward Carlos Boozer, but the Cavaliers are still 0-10 away from Gund Arena and have a 31-game road losing streak dating to last season.

"We can't keep falling down in the standings, we need to get some wins," James said. "Once we get off the schneid on the road, we'll be off and running."

Andre Miller has also been steady at the point, diminutive Earl Boykins has proved a speedy spark off the bench, and Jon Barry and Voshon Lenard have given the Nuggets the outside shooting that was missing a year ago.
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