Knicks-turned-Nuggets are flourishing

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Even the Nuggets' losses these days are interesting. Rare, and interesting.

They shot a season-low 35.9 percent from the floor against the Magic Friday night, and still it took a three-pointer at the buzzer by Jameer Nelson to beat them. It was a defeat that produced a few not-so-random highlights:

Wilson Chandler was the game's high scorer with 20 points. Raymond Felton grabbed a huge defensive rebound with the Nuggets trailing by two with 12 seconds left -- and sprained his ankle on the way down (he is day-to-day). Danilo Gallinari (17 points) made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to tie the score at 82.

"All these guys we thought were good when we got them," coach George Karl said. "They're better than we thought."

All those guys -- along with Timofey Mozgov, who did not play Friday -- were the Other Guys in what forever will be known as the Carmelo Anthony trade. They were the ones whose names kept popping up in trade rumors during one of the most anticipated and speculated-upon episodes in years.

"I just wanted all of it to be over with,'' Felton said earlier Friday. "Either I was going to be traded or I wasn't; which one was it going to be? It didn't really matter."

As for what has happened since then, he added, "I'm not necessarily surprised."

That would make him just about the only one.

A team that loses its lone superstar generally winds up somewhere being shaken and destroyed (see the file: Cavaliers, Cleveland). Instead, the Nuggets were 9-3 heading into Miami Saturday night (the Knicks are 7-7 since the trade). They have played with verve and purpose, especially on defense. They have played better than they were playing before the trade -- and better than the other team in the deal.

"I'm surprised," Karl said.

The former Knicks -- the Denver Post calls them the Knuggets -- have found a home in the heart of the Nuggets. And at least in the short term, they have created a whole greater than the hole left by Anthony.

"We're all cool. Most of these guys I knew, anyway, before I even got here," Felton said. "It was an easy transition. It's clicking a little better than I expected this early. But at the same time, I'm not surprised. I knew what type of team that they had already before we got here. By all of us coming, it just made this team deeper."

It is just that he had not planned on this when he signed with the Knicks as a free agent and was an All-Star-caliber point guard for them. "I'm not bitter," he said. "I understand it's a business. I'm still playing basketball, something I love to do. It's in a different city, a long way from my family. But that happens when you play this game.

"Life is too short to be bitter," Felton said. "I'm all about winning, and that's what we're doing right now, so I'm happy. I believe everything happens for a reason."

Gallinari also took it in stride, even though his stride became a limp when he broke his toe at the end of his second Nuggets game -- a 30-point effort. He returned Friday and played with abandon for 27 minutes.

Like Felton, he has moved into a new place in Denver. "A beautiful city, beautiful weather, nice people," Gallinari said.

He still talks with Ronny Turiaf, a close friend and fellow European, and has found only one downside to the trade.

"It was just much easier for my friends to come back and forth for two or three days. New York is the nearest city to Europe," he said. "But honestly, I wasn't upset. When I first came to the States, I knew I came into a different situation. It's part of the job."

Chandler has made the most graceful transition of all, taking over Anthony's starting small forward spot. "This was my first time getting traded, so I was kind of upset," he said after shooting 8-for-16 from the floor Friday. "But it went away fast. When you come somewhere where they want you, and they're winning, it goes away fast."

Karl said it has helped that the Nuggets' offensive philosophy is like Mike D'Antoni's. "We have more concepts defensively," the Nuggets coach said, adding of the Knuggets, "I think they're young character guys who have kind of an energized desire to figure out the NBA."

It is not hard to figure out which side has had a better record since Feb. 22.

"I still have a few friends who play for them. It's not like I watch the game and hope they lose," Chandler said of the Knicks. "I hope they do good."

"I don't really follow what's going on with the Knicks," Gallinari said, "because I'm a Nuggets player now."