Denver Finds a Way

(Boulder-CO) It wasn’t pretty, but the Nuggets found a way to defeat the Grizzlies, 111-107, despite finding themselves down by as many as six late in the third quarter. In this game we saw the Nuggets limit their turnovers, hit the boards, and share the ball in a tolerable effort against a team they should have beaten a lot worse. A win is a win, however, and I’m sure the Nuggets will take it.

Instead of having just Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony shoulder the offensive burden, Nene decided to get involved and kicked in a career-high-tying 27 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and a block. ‘Melo finished playing a team-high 42 minutes and recorded a game-high 33 points, six rebounds, and three assists. AI did his thing too. The Answer finished the game with 25 points and was much better facilitating the ball ending with nine assists.

The Chairman of the Boards tonight was Marcus Camby. The Captain finished with a game-high 13 rebounds with 12 of the aforementioned coming off the defensive glass. He also gave the Nugget eight points and three blocked shots; all of which were recovered by the Nuggets.

The rest of the Nuggets that scored, (Evans, Blake, Najera, and Klieza), combined for 18 points and four rebounds. Yakhouba Diawara was the only Nugget who played that didn’t put anything in the scoring column.

Mike Miller put the Nuggets’ backs against the wall when he erupted for 13 points in the second half of the third quarter and put his team up, 77-71. Allen Iverson stepped up his game and truly was the Answer for the Nuggets when he hit two counter three pointers and kept the Grizzlies within striking distance going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Denver did something that they haven’t been doing this season and actually out-played the Grizzlies 29-24 with the game’s outcome in the balance. The Nuggets needed every ounce of effort they gave in their attempt to better the Grizzlies by five-points in the money quarter and as a result won by four. This win put the Nuggets back into the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoff picture with the Clippers and New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets tied for the eighth and final spot.

Up next for the Nuggets are the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. Denver lost an extremly close game to the Magic earlier in the season and will be looking for redemption come 7 pm MST. Go Nuggets!