CHICAGO — Carmelo Anthony is gearing it up for Denver.
Anthony sat out his second straight game last night against the Bulls, saying his plan is to return for tonight’s Garden match against his former team, the Nuggets.
Anthony has a bandaged middle left finger that took five stitches after slicing it in Wednesday’s Charlotte win. He took warm-up shots before the game but indicated he had decided on a Denver return well before last night’s tip-off.Asked about the Denver showdown, Anthony said, “Yeah, that’s my plan.”
As he came off the court after taking jumpers, Anthony said, “It needs a few more hours. It felt good for the most part.”
The Knicks didn’t miss a beat without him Thursday in Miami, posting a 112-92 rout.
“I’m very proud of my teammates to take on that challenge,” Anthony said. “Nobody knew what was going to happen with me until right before the [Miami] game. When they found out, they were enthused about that game. Sitting out the Miami game and [last night’s] game. I really trust my teammates.”
Anthony said he was gung-ho about giving it a try in Miami but “[Tyson Chander] and Jason Kidd pulled me up and told me it was the best for me to [sit out]. … It was a matter of me saying, ‘Forget it, it’s Miami and we’ll see them two more times.’”
Anthony faces a challenge tonight against George Karl’s club that will be supercharged. His Denver divorce was messy.
Anthony said catching passes — especially bullets from Raymond Felton — is his chief worry.
“I think right now is the comfort level of driving, dribbling getting through the first time of getting hit, first time getting a hard pass, getting past that,” he said. “I know it’s going to take that moment, slapping down on the ball when I’m really going to see how it really it is.”
“I went out there and tried it [before Miami],” Anthony added. “You got to be smart. I didn’t want to have another setback.”
Asked about the renewed national buzz regarding the Knicks being one of the favorites to win the title, Anthony said, “We believe in ourselves. Nobody else says it, we believe in ourselves.”
* Marcus Camby sat out his fourth straight and said he will miss tonight, too. He will be re-evaluated before Tuesday’s Brooklyn game and said the next step could be a cortisone shot.
Amar’e Stoudemire appears on the verge of being cleared for practice and the Knicks say he is still on track to get back within the 6-to-8 week timetable set after his Nov. 1 knee-debridement surgery.
Stoudemire ran windsprints on the court at yesterday’s morning shootaround. Coach Mike Woodson said he won’t have the luxury of a lot of practices because of the schedule. The Post has reported mid-December is out of the question but he was eyeing to come back around Christmas.
“I just got to get practice time under him when they allow him to go full go,’’ said Woodson, adding Iman Shumpert is in the same boat. “We got to find some days those two guys can practice when the time comes and they can start feeling good about themselves. We’re going to have to do it on the fly.’’