Opinion: Nuggets' Anthony must start playing like a man

Sometime over the summer, Carmelo Anthony must decide he's no longer young.

He must transform to a player who chases victory with unending hunger. He must no longer tolerate the basketball child he's been.

Sure, he's a great scorer, but he's also a lousy defender and the leader of annual disaster in the NBA playoffs.

Anthony and his Denver Nuggets are doomed, once again, to fall without much of a fight in the first round. This has become a rite of spring in Colorado.

It's a mistake to place all the blame on Anthony for Denver's struggles against the Los Angeles Lakers. He stands in the center of the ruins, but he has company.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson, the Zen genius, has exposed the soft center of Denver's defense. Nuggets coach George Karl has failed to persuade his team to play with patience or generosity.

The we're-all-in-this-together Lakers collected 33 assists in Wednesday's victory. The me-first Nuggets had 12. That says everything you need to know about the series.

Anthony is only 23. To get a perspective on his age, consider that Air Force guard Tim Anderson turns 23 in May.

Carmelo has been asked to lift an NBA franchise, to carry it deep in the playoffs.

And he hasn't been ready.

He plays defense with disinterest. He's not the rebounder he should be. He, like his teammates, shoots too quickly and too often.

Jim Boeheim coached Anthony at Syracuse University. He remains an unabashed Anthony fan, which makes sense. In 2003, Anthony led SU to Boeheim's only national title.

Boeheim encourages fans to look at the faults of the rest of the Nuggets. This is a strong strategy. Anthony's teammates suffer from a long list of shortcomings.

"As a team," Boeheim said Thursday, "they don't stop anybody. I don't think it's one guy. I think it's the whole team."

But the Nuggets didn't draft Anthony to be another one of the guys. The Nuggets passed on Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh because they believed Anthony could tower as a transcendent player.

He has failed to reach those heights. Anthony is en route to his fifth straight loss in a playoff series. He's won only four playoff games while losing 18. He's never pushed his teams to a playoff upset, never even come close.

Used to be, Anthony and LeBron James were discussed in the same sentence. They entered the NBA in the same draft.

These days, few talk about Anthony and James in the same paragraph. I'm not sure they belong in the same book. James has won 19 playoff games and four series.

Yes, he labors in the NBA's Eastern Conference, a much more forgiving destination than Anthony's mighty West, but King James carried his teammates to a playoff upset last season of the powerful Detroit Pistons.

He delivers his best basketball in the playoffs while Anthony stumbles to his worst. James has played in the NBA Finals. James has learned to blend his stupendous talent with the mere mortals who play beside him.

Meanwhile, Anthony remains a kid on the court. He wants the ball. He wants to score. He doesn't much care about defending. He hasn't discovered how to elevate his teammates.

The alarm clock is ringing. Anthony's NBA youth has ended.

It's time - it's past time - to play the game like a man.