NBA teams thrive on confidence and emotion, and there may be no NBA team better than the Denver Nuggets when they get momentum.

Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets scored 14 of the first 15 points against the eight-time Serbia league champions, never looked back, and ran past Partizan Belgrade in preseason action 102-70 in the first game of the 2009 Euroleague American Tour.

Anthony scored 17 points as the lead ballooned up to 36 points at one point. Arron Afflalo added 15 points. Nene had 12 points and Anthony Carter had 11.

Center Aleksandar Maric led Partizan Belgrade with 16 points and 21 rebound while Aleksander Rasic added 11 for the team from Serbia.

Partizan shot only 31% from the field missing all of their three-point attempts in the first half, compared to the Nuggets’ 52%.

Chauncey Billups and Chris Andersen both sat out the game.