David Zalubowski / AP

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony hangs on the rim after dunking against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

Earl Boykins added 16 points for the Nuggets. Mike James led Toronto with 22 points, Rose had 21 and Chris Bosh scored 18.

The Nuggets trailed 54-52 at halftime, but Anthony hit a jumper and a three-point play before feeding Andre Miller with a shoulder-flip assist to cap an 11-2 run that gave Denver a 63-56 lead the Nuggets would never relinquish.

Toronto faded midway in the fourth quarter, falling behind by 15, even though Anthony was on the bench for much of it — the kind of break some of the Raptors wished Bryant had taken the night before — before trimming the lead in the final minutes.

The Nuggets just kept beating the heavy-legged Raptors upcourt.

Maybe giving up 81 to Bryant had taken more out of his team that Mitchell thought.

“I don’t know if we were fatigued,” he said. “But we told our guys that when you get to halfcourt you’ve got to turn and look for the ball. I guess altitude kept us from thinking. If we had turned our head we would have gotten hit in the heads a couple of times. So that would have at least a deflection.”

Rose said he hoped people will eventually forget it was the Raptors who were on the wrong side of history the night before: “It’s kind of like losing the Super Bowl or the championship. In 30, 40 years, when somebody breaks his record, you know, nobody’s going to remember who it was against.”

Fans at the Pepsi Center kept reminding the Raptors of Bryant’s 81 every chance they got.

In the closing minutes, one final heckler hollered “Kobe!” at Rose, who turned and quickly quieted him.

“Plummer!” Rose shot back, reminding Denver’s fans of their own nightmarish Sunday, when Jake Plummer turned the ball over four times in the Broncos’ 34-17 loss to visiting Pittsburgh in the AFC championship.

Touche.

Notes: Karl said he expects C Marcus Camby to be able to play about 25 minutes a game when he returns from a fractured finger. Camby hopes to be back on the court this weekend after missing nearly a month.

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