Last Friday Night the Denver Nuggets walked into Staples Center without all-star forward Carmelo Anthony and beat the best team in the western conference the LA Lakers convincingly. Chauncey Billups led the Nuggets with 39 points and eight assists. Billups went a crazy 9-13 from the behind the three point line. The next day I got a call from one of my boys, a big time Chauncey Billups fan, he was asking me if I still thought Carmelo Anthony was the Nuggets best player and I was like of course that was just one game anything can happen on any given day in the NBA. We went on to argue and his main point was the only way they could defeat the defending champ was with their best player Chauncey Billups.

So I did a little research and here are the facts:

-In 09-10 season the Nuggets are 3-6 without Chauncey

-In 09-10 the Nuggets are 8-5 without Melo

-In 09-10 the Nuggets are 2-2 without both Billups and Anthony (which is included in the records above so if you factor that in the Nuggets are 1-5 without Chancey and 6-3 without Melo)

-The Nuggets have never advanced beyond the first round in the Carmelo Anthony Era until Chauncey arrived

-Carmelo is 25 years old

Denver Nuggets' Chauncey Billups, left, and Carmelo Anthony sit on the bench against the Los Angeles Lakers during an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 5, 2010. The Nuggets won 126-113. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

After looking over these facts you could easily say Chauncey is the Nuggets best player but in the playoffs Mr. Big Shot disappears. In last year's playoff series against the Lakers Billups scored 22 points in the Nuggets final two games, 07-08 against the Celtics Billups only averaged 16.5ppg in the Pistons 4-2 series loss in the eastern conference finals. Billups can have all the incredible regular season games he wants but how can he be considered there best player when he routinely disappears in the fourth?

Melo's playoff history isn't anything to write home about but he played very well in last year's playoffs and like I said before he is only 25 years and not even close to his prime. Give me Melo.

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