(Best E Casino) - All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are doing what is expected of them, but if the Denver Nuggets hope to make the playoffs their teammates need to step up.

Denver (40-27) is scheduled to play nine of its final 15 games on the road. It will not be easy for the Nuggets, who still have to play Phoenix twice, Golden State twice, at Utah and against the Mavericks and Rockets at the Pepsi Center.

On Wednesday, Iverson returns to Philadelphia for the first time since being traded to Denver as the playoff-hopeful Nuggets visit the surging Sixers at the Wachovia Center.

Iverson will be playing his former team for the third time since being traded on December 19, 2006 by the Sixers to Denver in a blockbuster deal. The six- foot Iverson, who is playing in his 12th season in the NBA and was originally selected out of Georgetown by Philadelphia with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft, was the NBA's MVP in the 2000-01 campaign and led the Sixers to the 2001 NBA Finals, where they fell in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Georgetown product is 1-1 against his former squad. Both games were played at the Pepsi Center.

On January 6, Iverson torched his former team for 38 points as the Nuggets downed the Sixers, 109-96, at the Pepsi Center. Denver has won three of the last four meetings in the series, and has won two straight and three of its last four at Philadelphia.

This is the final meeting of the campaign between the clubs.

Denver plays the second of an important five-game road trip against Philadelphia. On Tuesday, Richard Hamilton poured in 24 points to lead an offensive explosion for the Pistons, as Detroit pounded the Nuggets, 136-120, at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Anthony ended with 27 points and five assists for Denver, which is 1 1/2 games behind the Warriors for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Iverson finished with 20 points and 11 assists in the loss.

The Nuggets, who have dropped four in a row as the visitor, are 12-20 on the road this season. The will visit New Jersey on Friday, Toronto on Sunday and Memphis on Monday in the finale of the swing.

Iverson leads the Nuggets in scoring (26.4 ppg) and assists (7.2 apg), while Marcus Camby, who is averaging 9.4 points per game, has pulled down a team- best 13.7 rebounds per game.

Anthony is averaging 25.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 62 contests. He is shooting 47.8 percent from the floor and 80.2 percent from the foul line. The Syracuse product has scored over 20 points in three straight outings and is averaging 23.5 points and 7.4 boards in his last 10 games.

Denver has scored over 100 points in eight straight games and is 5-3 during that stretch.