Los Angeles - Carmelo Anthony is on a rocky mountain scoring high, but the Denver Nuggets superstar has a greater focus this season. 'Melo poured in 42 points as the Nuggets won a shootout against the visiting Memphis Grizzlies, 133-123 on Sunday night, to remain undefeated this season.
Anthony's latest effort matched New York's Al Harrington and Portland's Brandon Roy for this season's NBA high as the Nuggets improved to 3-0.
Anthony, averaging nearly 38 points, said he's not after a scoring title, however. Since taking the NBA champion LA Lakers to six games in the Western Conference finals last spring, he is hungry to win a championship.
"I'm just trying to get wins," he said. "My confidence is up and I got one thing in mind, which is that gold ball," he said, referring to the NBA Championship trophy.
Chauncey Billups had 22 with 12 assists, Brazilian centre Nene added 18 points and nine rebounds for Denver, which shot 55.3 per cent from the field and improved to 26-3 all-time against Memphis.
"He's just so focused. He's riding a high wave right now and we are kind of getting on his back," Billups said of Anthony. "He's scoring a lot of points, but he's playing great basketball."
OJ Mayo scored a career-high 40 points, Spaniard Marc Gasol added 20 points and 11 rebounds, but the Grizzlies dropped to 1-2, despite shooting a sizzling 57.8 per cent from the floor.
"We played a very good team tonight, and we battled them on their home court," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said.
"They knew that they had to put out in order to win and they did. They showed why they were Western Conference finalists. We have to be proud of how we battled and if we continue to battle like that we will be happy."
Denver led by one at halftime, and 80-76 before Anthony scored 12 points as the lead grew to 103-94 entering the final frame.
"There came a point when somebody had to step up and do something." Anthony said, "It just so happened, it was me in that third quarter."
The Grizzlies rallied to within 118-113 on Gasol's basket and two free throws with just under five minutes remaining. Anthony, however, answered with a jumper, Nene made two free throws to open up a nine- point lead and the Nuggets held on.
Elsewhere: Boston Celtics 97, New Orleans Hornets 87 Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Ray Allen added 17 and the host Celtics (4-0) pulled away in the closing minutes to remain unbeaten this season.
Boston's Kevin Garnett totaled 14 points, Rajon Rondo had 10 assists and exchanged words with New Orleans' All-Star point guard Chris Paul in the second stanza.
Serbian sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic topped the Hornets (1-2) with 26 points, including six three-pointers, while Paul finished with 22 and eight assists.
LA Lakers 118, Atlanta Hawks 110 Kobe Bryant scored 41 points as the Lakers went on a game-breaking 18-0 third quarter run to clip the visiting Hawks.
Andrew Bynum scored 21 points, Lamar Odom had 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists as the Lakers rebounded from a dismal 94- 80 home-court loss to Dallas on Friday night as Spanish star Pau Gasol (right hamstring strain) sat out his third consecutive game.
Joe Johnson scored 27 points, Jamal Crawford added 17 off the bench for Atlanta (2-1), which was outscored 34-18 in the decisive third period.
Miami Heat 95, Chicago Bulls 87 Defending NBA scoring champ Dwyane Wade broke the 10,000 career point plateau with 25 points, Udonis Haslem had 19 with 11 rebounds, and the host Heat improved to 3-0 this season. Luol Deng topped Chicago (1-2) with 26 points.
Orlando Magic 125, Toronto Raptors 116 Jameer Nelson netted 30 points, JJ Redick poured in a career-high 27 and the visiting Magic hit 17 three-pointers to remain unbeaten through three games.
Dwight Howard collected 24 points and 11 rebounds for Orlando, which overcame the absence of injured Vince Carter (sore ankle).
Chris Bosh topped Toronto (1-2) with 35 points and 16 rebounds. Italy's Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points, while former Magic star Hedo Turkoglu added 19.
Portland Trail Blazers 83, Oklahoma City Thunder 74 Steve Blake scored 18 points, Brandon Roy had 16, and the visiting Trail Blazers forced Kevin Durant into an abysmal shooting effort to hand the Thunder its first loss of the season.
Russell Westbrook led host Oklahoma City (2-1) with 23 points, Jeff Green had 19 with 11 boards, while Durant finished with 16, hitting just three-of-21 shots.
Phoenix Suns 120, Minnesota Timberwolves 112 Channing Frye scored 25 points with six three-pointers, Jason Richardson had 23 in his season-debut following a two-game suspension as the undefeated Suns shaded the visiting Timberwolves.
Grant Hill added 23 points, Amare Stoudemire had 19, while Steve Nash finished with 14 along with 14 assists for Phoenix, which began the season at 3-0 for the sixth time in team history.
Ryan Gomes topped Minnesota (1-2) with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
