Stand up and show they're for real.

Fold, like pretenders to the NBA crown always do.

"We've got to figure out how to win games," said George Karl, who has a chance to prove he's actually the outstanding coach the Nuggets thought they hired four years ago.

If they are the same old Nuggets, looking for a crying towel when the game gets tough, losing a player of Melo's gold-medal stature will be the abrupt end of a beautiful 24-12 beginning to this pro hoops season.

"It hurts," point guard Chauncey Billups said Tuesday.

But a night earlier, as Anthony tried to determine merely how to tie his shoes with a shooting hand that had lost all sense of touch and gone numb, Billups sat across the Denver locker room and discussed what a good Basketball team must do to transform itself into a legitimate championship contender.

"When you get to the point where anybody on the team can hold everybody else accountable, then you have something," said Billups, most valuable player of the Finals when Detroit won the 2004 NBA crown. "One of the biggest things about having an opportunity to win is checking those egos at the door, so everybody is held accountable for success.

"For example, it needs to get to the point where if I miss a defensive coverage or two, Dahntay Jones can come up to me and say, 'What you doing, Chauncey? Let's go, dawg.' Or, if something goes wrong on the court, I can go to Melo or K-Mart or Nene, and say, 'C'mon man, this is bull!' and they not take it personally."

The Nuggets have steadily grown as a team, but are far from a mature, finished product.

J.R. Smith, whose explosiveness to the basket and 3-point shooting range make him the most likely candidate to pick up the scoring slack, now has no choice except to be smart in his decisions and consistent in performance if Denver is to thrive without Anthony.

Here is a chance to become indispensable for Linas Kleiza, the young swingman who has heard his name whispered in trade rumors as management searches for a big body capable of making the Nuggets tougher on defense and the boards.

Rather than drop hints about wanting out of town, now is the time for guard Chucky Atkins to escape the far, lonely end of Denver's bench.

And most crucial of all, we get to discover if the renewed levels of energy and enthusiasm displayed by Karl when Billups joined the team in a November trade can be sustained with leadership and creativity that can guide the Nuggets to a winning record during the next 10 to 12 games with Anthony in street clothes.

"I've always felt injuries were part of an NBA season," Karl said.

This bit of bad luck, however, seemed a cruel twist of fate.

Before the injury to Melo, it was finally time to ask:

Are the Nuggets one of the five best teams in the NBA?

The power structure of the league is clear. If the league's next champ is not the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers or the Cleveland Cavaliers, it will be a major upset.

But this is the best Denver team in 20 years.

If they are the same old Nuggets, looking for convenient excuses to fail, losing Anthony for an extended period will cause them to come undone.

"We'll do good. I've got a lot of confidence in my guys," Anthony said.

Can teammates pick him up? Are 10 good hands on the court stronger than one broken one?

There's the beauty in this bad break.

Here's a moment of truth for the Nuggets to reveal if their promise is more than a dream.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com