updated 12:04 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2006

DENVER - Carmelo Anthony didn’t mind the extra work, not even when he got kneed in the face in the middle of the third overtime.

“I wasn’t going to miss no time, not in a game like that,” said Anthony, who scored 43 points, including the game-winner with 2.9 seconds left that sent the Denver Nuggets past the Phoenix Suns 139-137.

Anthony played the final 2½ minutes with watery eyes and tissue paper in his left nostril to keep blood from gushing out after he was inadvertently kicked in the face by teammate Eduardo Najera.

Eddie House was short on a long jumper after a timeout. Shawn Marion tried unsuccessfully to toss it back up and send the game to a fourth overtime as the buzzer sounded.

“We played with a lot of heart for seven periods,” said Earl Boykins, who added a career-best 33 points for the Nuggets in their first triple-overtime game in a decade.

It was the Suns’ second triple-overtime game this month alone: They lost at New York on Jan. 2.

“I don’t know what it is about overtimes,” lamented Suns coach Mike D’Antoni. “We don’t get overtime pay, so I don’t know why we do it.”

Predictably, Nuggets coach George Karl loved it.

“I feel great. It was a great basketball game, we made a great effort,” Karl said. “We won a tough one and beat a good basketball team in a great game.”

Raja Bell led Phoenix with 30 points, followed by Marion with 28, Steve Nash with 26, James Jones with 22 and Boris Diaw with 12.

“Tiring,” Nash said. “This was tiring.”

With 35 seconds left, Nash fouled out for the first time since 1999-00. Ten seconds later, Bell fouled Andre Miller, who sank both free throws for a 137-135 lead.

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House hit a jumper with 12 seconds left, tying it at 137 and setting up Anthony’s game-winner, his second straight.

“Shawn Marion overplayed it, he reached, and once I saw that, I knew I had a clear shot at the basket once I got my feet set,” Anthony said. “I wanted to win, even before I got my face smacked. Then I got energy from that, even though Eddie did it.”

Anthony, who also was the hero in the Nuggets’ 92-90 win at Houston on Saturday night, scored with 2:30 left in the third overtime to give the Nuggets a 131-129 lead, but he was inadvertently kicked in the face by Najera. He stayed down for a minute and when he got up, there was a small pool of blood on the floor.

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