DENVER (AP) -- Marcus Camby was more impressed with his 21

rebounds than his 21 points.

His eighth double-double of the season and fourth 20-20 game of

his career helped the Denver Nuggets rout the Memphis Grizzlies

99-83 on Sunday night to move above .500 for the first time this

season.

Camby has topped 20 points five times this month after doing it

just four times last season.

"I just am going out there playing, not thinking about it,"

said Camby, who did his damage in just 34 minutes. "Like I say all

the time, I just try to focus on the defensive end, rebounding and

blocking shots, and my teammates are finding me."

That's the kind of attitude and approach that coach George Karl

trusts will lead the Nuggets out of their doldrums in offense. Once

again, they missed several easy baskets, leading Karl to suggest

that Carmelo Anthony's 21-point effort could easily have been 35.

"Offensively, we're good and bad," Karl said. "But I think in

general we had another really good defensive game. Offensively, I

see some hope that we're going to turn the corner with the pace and

the passing. We have a lot of easy shots that we're not making. I'm

just hoping that we bust out here."

Anthony added 10 rebounds for his own double-double and reserve

Earl Boykins had 18 points for the Nuggets, who beat Memphis at

home for the 16th straight time.

Camby also had four blocks and 14 of his rebounds came off the

defensive glass.

"You don't see that too often," Anthony said of Camby's 21-21

night. "That was an All-star performance from Camby."

Again.

"The man's on a mission," Karl said. "He's playing with such

a toughness and honesty at the defensive end of the court. It would

take me a month to get 21-21."

Memphis, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, got 24

points and 12 rebounds from Pau Gasol and 20 points from Shane

Battier, most in the first half before the Grizzlies tired and saw

the Nuggets pull away with 15 more fast-break points than they

managed.

"We played for 18 or 20 minutes. From that point on it steadily

went down hill," Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello said. "Our defense

broke down, we weren't selective with our shots and we stopped

being aggressive attacking the basket."

Battier, who scored just four points after halftime, said he was

bothered by the altitude. And apparently, he wasn't alone.

"There was spurt in the third quarter when they got a lot of

easy baskets. The key to beating this team is limiting their easy

baskets. They do so well in transition and in the half court,"

Battier said. "We played for about 20 minutes tonight. That's not

indicative of the way we played over the last two weeks. We had

some pretty good wins."

The Grizzlies, whose seven wins are tied for the most in

November in franchise history, never have done well in Denver,

where they are 2-19 and haven't won since Nov. 18, 1997.

With the Nuggets consistently unable to finish off around the

basket, the Grizzles jumped ahead by as many as nine points in the

second quarter behind Battier's 16 first-half points. Denver,

however, closed the first half with a 16-4 run to take a 51-49

halftime lead.

The Nuggets turned to their defense and transition game to build

an 79-66 lead after three quarters, and Boykins helped put the game

away with 13 second-half points.

"Right now we need him to play off the bench," Karl said.

"Without Nene and without Kenyon (Martin), you have a very

difficult time putting a strong bench unit on the court unless you

bring your starters back probably a little too early."

Karl said he couldn't recall a second-half possession that

didn't have a good pace to it.

"We are looking good," Anthony concurred. "We aren't 100

percent yet. We are still trying to find ourselves, and I think

when we get there we are going to be really good."Game notes
Martin, who has missed four of the last five games with

left knee tendinitis, expects to play Tuesday at Washington. ...

Nene will have an operation Monday to repair a torn ACL in his

right knee.