Catching Up With Carmelo Anthony

Two-time U.S. Olympian Carmelo Anthony won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won the 2003 NCAA Championship with Syracuse.

Now he is in position to join elite company if he and the Denver Nuggets can win the 2009 NBA Finals.

The Nuggets are two steps away, locked into an intense Western Conference Finals series against Olympic teammate Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. The winner takes on either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals. The Lakers currently lead the series against the Nuggets, 3-2, with Game Six set for Friday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

If Anthony and the Nuggets win the NBA Finals, the marquee forward would be only the eighth player to have won Olympic gold, an NCAA championship and an NBA championship. It's an exclusive list that includes the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Bill Russell.

"That's what I'm working on," Anthony said. "I need one on every level, and I'm working on that."

Anybody who thought that members of Team USA might experience some fatigue at the end of the NBA season due to the lack of an offseason would only have to look at Anthony's statistics to think otherwise.

In the Nuggets' 15 playoff games (as of May 28), Anthony is averaging 27.3 points (His regular-season average was 22.8). He's also shooting the ball at a 46 percent clip, which is slightly higher than his season average of 44 percent. Apparently no offseason is no problem for Anthony.

"I haven't had an offseason in four years,'' Anthony joked after a regular-season game in April. "In fact, as soon I got in the NBA I haven't had an offseason.''

Anthony came into the 2008-09 NBA season on a high. After playing a limited role for Team USA in its bronze-medal campaign at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Anthony was one of four Team USA players-along with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Carlos Boozer-to come back for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Anthony's role on those two teams was drastically different, and according to him, so was the atmosphere surrounding each team.

"It was like night and day," Anthony said. "It seemed like we were at the bottom in '04 and in '08 we were at the top."

In Athens, the 6-foot, 8-inch forward was buried on the end of coach Larry Brown's bench. He played in seven of the team's eight games, but averaged only 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, shooting a mere 25 percent from the floor.

With a new coaching regime in 2008-one that was headed by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and included Anthony's collegiate coach at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim-Anthony assumed a much more prominent role for Team USA. He started all eight games in Beijing and averaged 11.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

The results for Team USA were also drastically different. The 2004 team posted a 5-3 record with losses to Puerto Rico, Lithuania, and to Argentina in the semifinals. In 2008, the "Redeem Team" went a perfect 8-0 and had won by an average of 32.2 points in its first five games.

After eliminating Australia in the quarterfinals by 31 points, Team USA looked to avenge its 2004 semifinal loss to Argentina. In that game, it was Anthony who stepped up and turned in his best performance during USA's undefeated gold-medal run. Anthony poured in a game-high 21 points, including a perfect 13-of-13 from the free-throw line against the Argentines. His performance at the free throw line set Team USA records for free throws made and free throw percentage in a single game at the Olympics.

In the gold-medal game against Spain, Anthony was one of five Team USA players to score in double figures when he had 13 points. He made 5-of-11 shots from the field, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range.

"It was nice because I was actually a part of 2008," Anthony said. "In 2004, it seemed like I was just there."

Along with the thrill of winning a gold medal, the 2008 games gave Anthony a chance to reunite with Boeheim-the man with whom he won an NCAA Championship during his only season at Syracuse in 2003.

"That was one of the best things about the Olympics," Anthony said. "I've actually been with him for the last three summers, but it brought back some good memories."

Since rejoining the Denver Nuggets, Anthony has been busy trying to create some more good memories. Thanks to the play of Anthony and a trade that brought point guard Chauncey Billups to Denver, the Nuggets are having arguably their best season in franchise history.

A hand injury in early January forced Anthony to miss 11 games in the middle of the season, but the Nuggets kept pace by going 7-4 during the stretch. Billups, who won an NBA Championship when he was with the Detroit Pistons, led the Nuggets in scoring in five of the games that Anthony was absent.

The 54 victories compiled during the regular season tied a franchise record and gave the club back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time in franchise history. As the number two seed in the Western Conference, the Nuggets rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs by beating the New Orleans Hornets and Dallas Mavericks 4-1 in the respective best-of-seven games series.

If Denver can take care of the Los Angeles Lakers, they will face off June 4 against the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA Finals.

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Matt Thomas is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.