Injured Martin in pain, unsure of length of absence

Just when Kenyon Martin’s back started to feel better, now it’s his front.

Martin, the rugged Nuggets forward who is so pivotal to the team’s toughness, suffered a left rib cartilage strain early in the third quarter of Thursday night’s 114-104 win over Utah, and was lost for the game. Martin was in the pain afterward, and doesn’t know how long he’ll be out.

“I feel pretty bad right now,’’ said Martin, who had just gotten fully healthy after a lower back problem bothered him from mid-February to mid-March. “We’ll see.’’

X-rays were negative. But that didn’t relieve Martin a lot.

“Ain’t nothing broke, but it ain’t got to be broke for it to be hurting,’’ Martin said. “It’s frustrating, but I don’t know how long it will be so I ain’t going to be getting down on it. I’ll just keep getting worked on, and we’ll see how it goes.’’

Martin, who doesn’t know if he’ll be able to play Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Pepsi Center, isn’t sure how he got hurt. Martin, who left for good with 10:02 left in the third quarter, said it either happened on a play he reached for the ball or on a rebound.

With his team finally having gotten healthy for the stretch run, Nuggets coach George Karl remained hopeful this will an injury that hampers Martin for a short period.

“I think it’s day-to-day right now,’’ Karl said. “Ribs aren’t fun. Ribs are sore… I like challenges, but I prefer to be healthy… Everybody seems to be in a mode of getting healthy and having more bounce to their step. I’m hoping that this is just a few-days injury, not more than that.’’

Obviously, Martin’s teammates also are hoping that. But reserve big man Chris Andersen said he’s confident with how he’s played subbing before for Martin, and is ready if he has to do it again.

ANOTHER MELO TECHNICAL: Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony vowed two days earlier he wouldn’t get another technical the rest of the season.

So what did Anthony have to say when he picked up yet another one in the fourth quarter Thursday?

“Don’t believe everything you hear,’’ Anthony said.

The technical was Anthony’s 14th of the season, meaning just two more would land him a mandatory one-game suspension. With six games left in the season, Anthony’s margin for error is lessening.

Karl said his star had been “alerted’’ about where he stands, and Anthony had vowed he wasn’t “going to say anything’’ to the officials the rest of the season. But that wasn’t enough to keep Anthony from being whistled up yet again.