Nuggets ready for big game against Utah

Not that Carmelo Anthony ever has been in a Game 7, but he figures this is a game to roll out all the clichés.

“It’s like a championship type of game,’’ said the Nuggets forward. “Like a Game 7 game. So we’re looking forward to that.’’

Anthony is referring to Thursday night’s Northwest Division battle with Utah at the Pepsi Center, a game that has loomed big for a while but now appears much bigger for the Jazz than for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets (49-26) have been cruising along, having won nine of their past 10. But Utah (46-28), after having won 13 straight from mid-February to mid-March, has gone just 5-5 since then to fall 2 1/2 games behind Denver.

The Jazz’s slippage was quite evident Tuesday, when it was routed 125-104 at Portland (47-27), which is the third team battling for the Northwest crown and is 1 1/2 games behind the Nuggets.

“It’s monumental,’’ Utah forward Carlos Boozer said of what Thursday’s game means after what happened Tuesday. “We’ll get our minds right, learn from some of the mistakes we made (at Portland), get our minds right for Denver.’’

For Utah, it could be a do-or-die game in the Northwest. A loss would drop the Jazz 3 ½ games behind the Nuggets and perhaps give Denver the tiebreaker in the season series.

The Jazz leads the series 2-1. If the teams tie 2-2, the next tiebreaker is division record, with the Nuggets currently at 9-3 and Utah at 10-4.

But if Utah wins Thursday to move to 1 ½ games of Denver and take the season series 3-1, it could get interesting down the stretch. And Portland could move to one game, although the Trail Blazers aren’t in as good a position in the tiebreaker category with Denver (the Trail Blazers trail the season series 2-1 with one game left and are hampered by an 8-5 division mark).

“That’s a very big game,’’ Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said of facing the Jazz. “With everything so close right now, of course it means a lot.’’

But with the Nuggets having a much easier schedule down the stretch than Utah and Portland, the game likely means more to the Jazz.

“If we don’t win, we can wake up tomorrow and the next day and still be in good position,’’ said Nuggets coach George Karl, who said center Nene, bothered by a mild sprained right ankle, is fine and will play against Utah.

The Nuggets hold down the No. 2 seed in the West. A division crown would guarantee Denver at least the No. 4 spot, but Karl has bigger thoughts.

“I don’t think there’s any disappointment in second, third or fourth,’’ Karl said. “I think all of them would be good. If you want to dream a little bit, I think probably the best scenario would be second or third because then you would stay away from the Lakers.” The Lakers are the top seed and, thus, can’t meet No. 2 or No. 3 until the West final.

Beating the Jazz would help in that regard. So it’s not surprising Nuggets players are getting fired up about the game, which will be nationally televised by TNT.

“It’s a very big game,’’ said point guard Anthony Carter. “This is like Game 7. That’s the way we’ve got to approach it.’’

Carter should know. He did play in a Game 7 with Miami in 2000.