Nuggets' Karl facing second battle with cancer

KARL'S CANCER SCARE

George Karl has beaten cancer before, when he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 2005. He faces the challenge again after revealing last Tuesday that he has a form of throat cancer. He told his Nuggets team after keeping the news a secret through All-Star weekend, when he coached the Western Conference.

"Most people believe the treatment is manageable," said Karl, who will miss games Feb. 25 at Golden State and March 10 at Minnesota because of treatments. It is possible he could miss others.

In Karl's absence, assistant coach Adrian Dantley will run the team. Karl, 58, hopes to be finished with the treatment and at 100 percent in time for the playoffs. The Nuggets might be the only team in the West with a legitimate chance to beat the Lakers.

"Basically, I believe my team is a championship team," Karl said. "My hope is I can focus 100 percent during the playoff run."

RONDO NOT THRILLED TO GET NATE

Nate Robinson is popular among fans and always well-liked by his Knicks teammates. But the Celtics players hardly were excited about the acquisition of the 5-9 scoring guard before the trade deadline. Point guard Rajon Rondo, in fact, could hardly hide his apathy.

"I hope it's for the best," Rondo told reporters. "Eddie House can drop 20, 30 too."

Rondo is an aloof player who saves most of his talking for the court, where he is known to bark - and curse profusely - at his own teammates, even Kevin Garnett. Robinson is well known around the league as an incessant trash talker.

"We don't really see each other," Rondo said of his relationship with Robinson. "We speak, but I try to kill him every time I play him and I'm sure that's probably his mentality."

DRAFT DECISION HELPED KNICKS

The Sacramento Kings were the only NBA team that was granted a private workout with Ricky Rubio before last June's draft. But the Kings passed on Rubio and instead chose Tyreke Evans with the fourth overall pick and that, said agent Dan Fegan, led to Kevin Martin being traded by the Kings in the three-player deal that sent Tracy McGrady to the Knicks.

"The seeds for the Kevin Martin trade were sowed the moment drafted Tyreke Evans," Fegan, who represents both Martin and Rubio, told the Sacramento Bee.

Rubio is more of a playmaking point guard compared to Evans, who is a scorer, and obviously would have been a much better fit with the sharp-shooting Martin in the Kings backcourt. Had the Kings gone with Rubio, Martin clearly would not have been available and, quite possibly, the Knicks deal with the Rockets for McGrady - and the residual $9.5 million in cap relief for 2010-11 - doesn't happen.

LeBRON COUNTDOWN

131 days until July 1, when LeBron James can become a free agent.