At the very least, Carmelo Anthony has 85 games left in his NBA rookie season.

None of them will be as special as the one he played last night.

Forget about stats. Last night at the Carrier Dome, 20,315 people showed up for a party thrown in Anthony’s honor. For more than two hours, Anthony entertained family, friends, fans and teammates new and old.

He smiled at the night’s beginning and beamed at its end. He put on such a show that, when his Denver Nuggets wound up 93-91 losers to the Detroit Pistons in a preseason game, nobody much cared. Not even Anthony.

‘The whole (night) just gave me chills,’ Anthony said. ‘Being here brought back a lot of great memories. It made me think about last year’s team and about everything that happened here. That’s what this was all about.’

It was all about Anthony. Souvenir stands at the Carrier Dome sold two items: Anthony’s No. 15 Denver Nuggets jersey and a Nuggets T-shirt with Anthony’s face on the front.

Fans lined up throughout the game to buy such apparel. Six minutes into the first quarter, 15 people still waited anxiously at one stand.

Those who didn’t purchase Anthony gear were already wearing it. Ball boys for both teams wore Anthony’s No. 15. Hundreds of fans wore the same jersey, including two of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s sons.

‘I’ve never seen this much of one jersey at anything,’ said Troy Frazier, Anthony’s mentor and Denver roommate. ‘You got like 10,000 Carmelo’s in this place. This is more Carmelo jerseys than I’ve seen in a full month in Denver.’

The support was so overwhelming that even the cocksure Anthony seemed nervous before tip-off. When his name was introduced to a thundering roar, Anthony bowed his head and swayed back and forth.

‘I was excited from the start,’ Anthony said. ‘To stand there and just hear all of those fans chanting for me again felt so good. That gets your emotions going, that’s for sure.’

Throughout the night, seemingly everyone in attendance cheered only for Anthony. A thunderous dunk by Nuggets forward Nene Hilario elicited no reaction. A nondescript rebound by Anthony brought fans to their feet.

Anthony gave fans plenty to cheer about, swishing three long-range jumpers and fooling Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince with an up-and-under move in the first half.

During the rare moments when Anthony stayed quiet, fans found ways to support him anyway. Once, when Piston forward Ben Wallace lined up to shoot a free throw, a fan screamed: ‘You loser! You’re not half as good as Carmelo!’

When Anthony stayed on the bench for a five-minute stretch in the third quarter, fans grew anxious and started to chant, ‘We want ‘Melo.’

‘Nobody here is a Nuggets fan,’ SU freshman forward Terrence Roberts said from his seat near the court. ‘Everybody here is a Carmelo Anthony fan.’

There were 25 professional basketball players at the Dome last night. Many of them were beloved college stars. None of them, though, enjoyed the romancing that Anthony and Syracuse embraced last night.

‘You don’t see things like this very often,’ Nuggets forward Ryan Bowen said. ‘This many fans here just to see one guy? Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. It’s amazing.’

Said Denver center Marcus Camby: ‘The way the fans here supported him, you’d think they could have an NBA team here or something. They showed (Carmelo) a lot of love, a lot of respect. I know it means a lot to him. I know he’ll remember all of this.’

More important, after the Carrier Dome bash held in his honor, Anthony knows Syracuse will remember him.

‘I’ll never be forgotten in this town,’ Anthony said. ‘And that’s great. Just great.’

Published on October 19, 2003 at 12:00 pm