Carmelo Anthony continues torrid start with 42 points in Denver’s 133-123 win over Memphis

Anthony leads Nuggets past Grizzlies and Mayo

DENVER — Carmelo Anthony extended his torrid start with 42 points in the Denver Nuggets’ 133-123 shootout win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night.

The Nuggets are 3-0 thanks to ‘Melo, whose game has only gotten better since the spring, when he led Denver to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

Instead of setting up on the block and posting up like he used to, Anthony is getting to the rim from the perimeter when he’s not swishing jumpers, and that’s made him much harder to defend.

O.J. Mayo scored a career-high 40 points for Memphis.

Chauncey Billups chipped in 22 points and 12 assists, and Kenyon Martin had 16 and Nene 18. All five of the Grizzlies’ starters scored in double figures. Marc Gasol had 20 points.

But this was the ‘Melo vs. Mayo Show, and the sixth-year veteran outlasted the second-year pro.

Stymied by Anthony’s answer to their every run, the Grizzlies couldn’t capitalize on their collective hot hand to pull off a rare win in the Mile High City, where they’ve lost 15 of 16 since the franchise moved to Memphis.

The game featured 66 free throws, 37 of them by Denver.

Denver led 67-66 at halftime, then created some cushion in the third quarter behind Anthony’s sweet jumpers and dominant drives. But the Grizzlies didn’t go down quietly, keeping up with the Nuggets until the very end.

The Grizzlies shot a sizzling 77 percent in the first quarter, when they made 16 of their first 19 baskets, many of them dunks or high-percentage shots at the rim, and the Nuggets’ first lead came at 45-44 on Ty Lawson’s 3-pointer.

Anthony, who had 20 points by halftime, has been unstoppable so far. He scored 30 in the opener against Utah after leading the league with a 23.6-point average in the preseason, then he scored 19 of his 41 in the fourth quarter in a win at Portland on Thursday night.

Nuggets coach George Karl suggested Anthony’s great start is a product of his finally tasting some playoff success and a burning desire to return to the conference finals and complete the task this time.

Allen Iverson missed his third straight game while recovering from a partial right hamstring tear and is expected to make his season debut for the Grizzles on Monday night at Sacramento.

NOTES: Suspended F J.R. Smith will travel with the Nuggets on their six-game road trip. He can return to the roster on Nov. 10. … Gasol and Nene banged heads hard in the third quarter but both stayed in the game. Mayo’s previous career high was 33 points, which he accomplished twice as a rookie last year.