DENVER'S EARLY-SEASON DEJA VU: ANTHONY NEEDS TO STEP UP GAME.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE NBA 

Carmelo Anthony raised his hand in mock protest before the question was even completed. With injuries and a shaky start to the new season so eerily similar to the Denver Nuggets' struggles this time last year, Anthony was in no mood to wonder if he was stuck in some cruel version of Groundhog Day.

``We don't even want to get like that,'' Anthony said. We've already lost (three of five) and we want to get back on the right track.''

Still, the similarities to last season are hard to ignore, which explains Anthony's insistence about distancing this year's Nuggets from last year's - at least the early season version that hit the middle of January with a 17-25 record (11th in the Western Conference) and cost Jeff Bzdelik and Michael Cooper their jobs as head coach.

Once again, the Nuggets lost a prominent player to a season-ending injury on opening night - Nene this year, Voshon Lenard last year - and, just as they did last season, they've forced themselves into immediate catch-up mode by losing three games over the first week.

Throw in the bum knee that has robbed tough-guy Kenyon Martin of his explosiveness and pressured brittle Marcus Camby to bring the hammer every night, and already one of the most promising young teams in the league faces questions.

``I don't know what the problem is but we need to figure it out fast,'' Martin said after the Nuggets dropped their second game this year to the Lakers. ``We need to pinpoint the problem and fix it. Just play hard, believe in ourselves and hopefully get this thing turned around.''

The Nuggets can't count on a 32-8 kick over the final three months of the season - as they did last year - to save them. George Karl, enticed back to the sideline from the broadcast booth at midseason, triggered that remarkable turnaround to help Denver miraculously track down the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

San Antonio took the Nuggets out in five games in the first round, but any disappointment Denver felt quickly turned into enthusiasm looking ahead to the new year, when nothing less than full coronation into the Western Conference elite was expected.

Then, promising young power forward Nene went down opening night - Karl, handcuffed to his living room sofa by a two-game suspension that carried over from last year, nearly threw his TV out of his window as he watched in horror - followed by a crushing home loss to the Lakers the next night in which a five-point lead late in regulation vanished into the thin Mile High air.

Karl needed to knock down a couple of cold ones to help swallow the guilt he felt not being on the sideline after those two losses - ``very poorly,'' is how he handled the helplessness he felt - and his young Nuggets were fighting the urge to say ``Here we go again.''

``The expectations are still the same,'' Anthony said. ``But we have to figure out a way to get back on track.''

The Nuggets have plenty of time to find themselves again, but Nene's loss puts a serious cramp on the big-man rotation, and if Martin's knee doesn't improve, any remaining intimidation factor they have would be lost.

In his quieter moments Karl longs for another big man - ``philosophically, sitting around the locker room, probably, yeah,'' he said - but the line waiting for that luxury is stretched across the league, so he's not holding out hope.

``I also think this team has earned the right to let it play for awhile,'' Karl said.

Which brings us to the very reason Karl jumped at the chance to coach the Nuggets in the first place - the 22-year old Anthony. For the first time in his career, Karl has a potential top-five player in the league, a superstar-caliber performer who can take ownership of his team and dictate work ethic, attitude and direction.

``Someone who takes responsibility of the locker room and takes it off the coach,'' Karl said. ``There's only so many of those kinds of guys out there, and the vast majority of coaches never get the chance to coach them.''

For the Nuggets to get where they expect, Anthony can't be anything less than one of those players. He hasn't had that breakout scoring game this year, prompting Karl to pull him aside to ask if he needed more pick-and-rolls and isolation plays called. But Anthony's shooting percentage, assists and rebounds all are up, so he's not letting his early scoring problems affect the rest of his game.

The trick now is learning how and when to impose his will on a team - on and off the floor.

The great ones can. The Nuggets need him to.

--It's come to this: Sacramento, forever living down the image of being Mayberry to the giant metropolis's most other teams call home, took its small-town insecurity to a dark level when the scoreboard at Arco Arena flashed pictures of abandoned buildings, burned-out cars, piles of rubble and other negative images of Detroit when Pistons players were being introduced at a recent game.

The incident infuriated the stunned Pistons, prompting the Kings to issue an immediate apology and co-owner Joe Maloof to personally call Pistons owner Bill Davidson and Pistons coach Flip Saunders to offer his regret.

Joe and brother Gavin Maloof also purchased full-page ads in both Detroit papers expressing ``great respect for Detroit's long and rich tradition as a landmark American city and the incredibly positive impact the Motor City has made over the course of our country's history.''

No word on whether the Maloofs are contemplating an apology to their fans for the sorry state of the Kings so far this year. They fell to 1-4 after Wednesday's blowout loss at Denver, and with Golden State, the Clippers and Lakers all showing improvement, they could be headed to permanent residence in the Pacific Division basement if they don't get things straightened out.

--Trouble in South Beach? Shaquille O'Neal is on the shelf for at least two more weeks with a sprained ankle - Heat boss Pat Riley is crossing his fingers O'Neal doesn't check back in at more than the 340 pounds he weighed to start training camp - newcomers Antoine Walker and Jason Williams openly sniped at each other on the court a couple of games ago and Dwyane Wade turned the ball over 10 times in a loss to Indiana on Wednesday to drop Miami to 2-3.

In other words, not exactly the start the Heat envisioned after reworking a roster that fell a fourth-quarter meltdown short of playing in the NBA Finals last season.

The good news is Shaq got the cast removed from his injured ankle Wednesday, so he's one hurdle closer to coming back. The bad news is sprained ankle injuries linger on 190-pound point guards, let alone a 340-pound center with a history of foot problems.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Troy Murphy is second on the Warriors in scoring (16.5 ppg).

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Box:

(1) TROY MURPHY ... Q&A

- Vincent Bonsignore

(2) OFF THE GLASS

(3) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

- Ross Siler