As the Broncos took a beating in San Diego, their Denver basketball brethren were dishing out some pain 430 miles up the California coast. The Nuggets looked great last night in a 106-89 win over the Golden State Warriors, but Carmelo Anthony was the clear star, finishing with 39 points, nine rebounds, and a perfect 17-17 from the free-throw line (box score via NBA.com).

Melo played his best game of the early 2010-11 season, with a career-high 17 free throws. “I don’t know when was the last time I had that many free throws,” he tells The Denver Post. “I was just attacking, being aggressive.”

Melo received a lot of help from the return of Chris “Birdman” Andersen, the tattooed freak who played his first game of the season after undergoing off-season knee surgery. At one point, he ran the floor in a fast break, taking off from nearly the free-throw line and putting in a beautiful finger roll, showing that the knee should be good for a while, writes Denver Stiffs. Point guard Ty Lawson also looked solid filling in for the injured Chauncey Billups, netting 14 points and five assists.

Meanwhile, Melo has been busy with other projects, recently releasing Become Legendary, his first hip-hop mixtape with his music label, Krossover Entertainment. Consequence of Sound reports that the mix dropped earlier this week, featuring rappers like Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, and Diego Cash, the brother of Melo’s wife, LaLa Vasquez.