Carmelo Anthony passes Allen Iverson on all-time scoring list

— -- With a 3-pointer in the second quarter on Thursday in Denver against the franchise that drafted him, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony moved to 24th on the NBA's all-time scoring list, passing former teammate Allen Iverson.

Anthony finished with 28 points on the night in a 102-94 loss to the Nuggets, the team that selected him with the third overall pick in the 2003 draft. With 24,385 career points in the regular season, Anthony is now behind Ray Allen for the next spot on the list.

Anthony, 33, is within reach of as high as 18th on the all-time list this season, which would pass Vince Carter, Patrick Ewing, Jerry West, Reggie Miller and Alex English, if he scores around 1,600 points, which has been his average during his 15-year career.

Anthony climbed into the top 25 last season when he passed Charles Barkley.

"I think I actually fell in love with it," Anthony said earlier this season of his natural scoring ability. "I love to score the ball. You got to love it. And I think from that, you start working on it, different ways to score the ball, adding to your game, but it's a fun thing to score the basketball."

Going into Thursday's game, Anthony is averaging 20.8 points this season. For his career, Anthony is averaging 24.8 points.