DENVER – I’ve been looking at NBA box scores for much of my life, and there’s no doubt which number is the most important (other than the final score), and the most overlooked.

Shots taken.

Carmelo Anthony torched the New York Knicks for 50 points  Friday night, and he only needed 28 shots to do the torching. He destroyed an assortment of Knicks defenders, and he did the destroying the old-fashioned way.

He  outworked everybody. He ran harder, repeatedly beating everyone down the court for layups. He fought for reb0unds.

He didn’t force shots. He passed when surrounded by double teams. He delivered an overwhelming, overpowering performance, but also showed wisdom and sublety. Anthony dominated within the flow of the game. He scored 50, but remained a team player, and that doesn’t often happen.

And he was rewarded for  his efforts with chants of “MVP, MVP, MVP,” from Nuggets fans. I sat in the stands for this game, and on this night Anthony was even more popular than Denver native Chauncey Billups.

So far this season, no one in NBA has played better than Anthony.

Colorado fans have waited since 2003 for Anthony to full mature, both as a player and a man.

The wait might be over.

Here’s the box score from the game:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=AuvUncu2iyjGos3gr_rDFE6QvLYF?gid=2009112707

Here’s Chris Dempsey’s game story from The Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13882811

And here’s a quick Carmelo highlight reel from the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-k1p60NBdI