Anthony a huge pain for Toronto

DENVER • Forty-eight hours after he couldn't lift his arm or even his toddler son, Carmelo Anthony didn't let the lingering pain in his right elbow keep him from scoring baskets by the bunches or handing out high-fives by the boatload.

"You've still got to cheer, man," Anthony said. "I'd rather take the pain and still cheer for my teammates."

He had plenty to celebrate in Denver's 132-93 rout of the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.

After a slow start, Anthony finished with 23 points after scoring just one bucket in 14 agonizing minutes against Houston on Sunday night, which snapped his NBA-best double-digit streak at 222 games.

"It was still hurting out there tonight," Anthony said. "I just wanted to try to fight through the pain."

Chauncey Billups had 24 points, 14 assists and only one turnover for Denver (13-6), which tied the franchise mark for the best 19-game start.

Jermaine O'Neal returned from a sprained left ankle that had cost him three games and he scored 12 points to go with Chris Bosh's 24, but they couldn't keep the Raptors from being routed.

Nene had another double-double for the Nuggets, who are 12-3 since trading Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Billups, the Denver native and former University of Colorado star whose homecoming has gone better than anybody would have expected.

"I think we're heading into a good direction right now," Anthony said. "I say all the time, he's bringing that leadership to this team, helping everybody out, making everybody better. You look at the scoreboard, you see five, six guys in double digits, whereas before we really didn't have that."

Thanks to Billups' play up and down the court, this game was never in doubt. During Billups' 32 minutes of playing time, the Nuggets were an incredible plus-48 on the scoreboard. Denver posted 37 assists overall, outshot Toronto 60 percent to 37 percent and got 39 points from 3-point range.

"It's just one of those games where it seemed like everything kind of worked," Billups said.