Knee injury unnerving for K-Mart

The pain in his left knee would cause anyone to toss and turn. Throw in the anxiety of another serious injury and his restlessness is understandable.

Bothered by knee tendinitis for much of the season, Martin plans to see Vail surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman for an evaluation. He would neither confirm nor deny a Yahoo! Sports report that said he has partial tear of his left patella tendon.

“I’m going to talk to Dr. Steadman and see what he says,” Martin said after sitting out Friday night’s 122-114 victory over the Indiana Pacers. “It’s still up in the air. I don’t want to speculate. I don’t want to say something it could be and (then) it’s nothing. We’ll see in the next day or two.”

Martin, averaging 11.8 points and 9.6 rebounds in 55 games, has a history of knee trouble. He had microfracture surgery on his left knee in May 2005 and the same surgery on his right knee in November 2006.

Asked if he was nervous about the latest knee problem, Martin gave an honest answer.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “Haven’t slept a lot in the last couple days – just the not knowing. We’ll see. I’m going to try to be optimistic. With knees, it’s always a sensitive topic with me after what I’ve been through.”

The Nuggets lost the first three games they played without Martin this season, but they have won three of the last four, including Friday night’s disjointed victory over the Pacers.

Joey Graham started in place of Martin, but reserve forward Chris Andersen did his best K-Mart impression by scoring 13 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots in 27 minutes off the bench.

Reserve shooting guard J.R. Smith added 20 points and a career-high eight assists, while backup point guard Anthony Carter finished with 12 points and seven assists.

“A.C. and J.R.’s passing was great. Chris was very active,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I would give this game to the bench. It’s the second game in a row that the bench has had a teamness to it. They’ve had more confidence than they’ve had in some other games lately.”

Andersen has been dealing with tendinitis in his right knee, and Friday night was no different. He would wince in pain one moment, only to soar for a rebound, an alley oop dunk or a blocked shot the next.

“I was just fighting through it,” Andersen said.

Andersen becomes even more valuable if Martin is forced to sit out for an extended period of time. Graham and veteran Malik Allen also figure to get more minutes in Martin’s absence.

“Will we miss Kenyon? Yeah, we miss him a lot,” Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. “I think everybody knows that. But there’s been times when I didn’t play and guys had to step up, Chauncey didn’t play, guys had to step up. I think that’s going to bring us closer together as a unit.”

Anthony enjoyed his second impressive performance as he recovers from mid-season fatigue. He finished with 34 points on 12-of-20 shooting and came up with timely baskets when Indiana threatened to get the lead under double-figures in the fourth quarter.

“Every time we started to climb back, Carmelo just took over,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “He’s a terrific talent. No matter how closely you guard him, he makes shots. He just overpowers people.”

Anthony left the game with 3:45 remaining and Denver ahead 117-100. Despite a late 10-0 Indiana run, the Nuggets (41-21) easily held on for the victory and matched the best 62-game record since joining the NBA in 1976-77.

“It was an ugly game,” Billups said. “Games like that, you’ve just got to get out the best way you can. That’s kind of what we did.”

Denver will close its three-game homestand Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers. Rookie point guard Ty Lawson likely will miss his fourth straight game with a bruised left shoulder, and Martin probably will be out as well.

But the Nuggets have proven to be resilient as they battle the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz for the No. 2 seed in the West. That resiliency is certain to be tested again over the final 20 games of the season.

“(Friday night) was a solid win, but it wasn’t anything special,” Karl said. “I think we’re going to have to play a lot better against Portland to win Sunday.”