"He's not from here, he doesn't have some motivating past history with this place and, really, his only tie to the nation's capital is that he resides in said nation.

For Al Harrington, the exceptional is inexplicable. But in the past two games he had played in Washington, he shot 5-for-8 from long range in the first game and 6-for-8 from 3-point range in the second.

Harrington again went 5-for-8 on 3-pointers Friday night, spearheading the Nuggets to a 108-104 victory.

"Yeah, I had no idea. I didn't know I was shooting it that well here," said Harrington, who scored a season-high 29 points, when asked about his recent D.C. performances. "I feel like I can shoot every night like that — it just doesn't always happen."

The Nuggets are 3-0 on this East Coast swing heading into tonight's marquee matchup against Melo at Madison Square Garden.

For the first time since last February's trade, the Nuggets will face the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony, the face-of-the-franchise forward who forced Denver to trade him to New York.

"I think that's one of the games that motivates itself," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I don't think I'm going to have to give a really good pep talk in that game.""