Carmelo Scores 38 In Nuggets 111-101 Victory Over Rockets

Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Carmelo Anthony finished with 38 points and nine rebounds, as the Denver Nuggets took a 111-101 victory over the Houston Rockets at Pepsi Center.

Anthony made 19-of-20 free throws in reaching the 30-point plateau for the fifth consecutive game. Houston was 18-of-20 from the line overall. J.R. Smith added 21 points for the Nuggets, who have won three in a row and seven of their last nine games.

“I’m going to continue to go to the hole, drive and try to make something happen,” said Anthony. “They were calling it tonight. Every time I went in something happened. That’s the way I like it, that’s the way we like it, taking it to the rim.”

Aaron Brooks had 23 points and seven assists for the Rockets, who were coming off a home win over Detroit on Tuesday. Trevor Ariza had 18 points in his return from a one-game suspension he got for throwing an elbow at DeMar DeRozan in Sunday’s game against Toronto.

“We seemed to be a little bit step behind,” said Rockets coach Rick Adelman. “We kept hanging in there until the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Tracy McGrady played in his second game of the season after being out since February because of microfracture knee surgery, and was 0-for-1 in 7 1/2 minutes.

Already holding a six-point edge nearly two minutes into the fourth, Denver rattled off seven consecutive points. Smith capped the rally with a layup to make it a 93-80 game with 7:27 to play.

Houston had made up a number of deficits throughout the game, but didn’t have a final comeback.

After Smith sank a jumper with 6:16 left to put the Nuggets up 97-84, neither team scored for more than two minutes. Smith broke the dry spell with a three- pointer to extend the margin to 16, and Anthony sank 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Houston held a 19-11 lead after Ariza hit a jumper with a little over four minutes left in the first. But Denver ended the frame on a 14-2 run, in which Anthony had seven points, to take a 25-21 edge into the second.

The Nuggets held a small lead in the second quarter, though the Rockets drew even multiple times, including when an Ariza jumper made it 44-44 with under four minutes to go.

Denver followed with an Anthony layup and Chauncey Billups three-point play to go ahead by five, and was ahead 58-51 at the break.

Houston got back-to-back threes from Shane Battier and Brooks to begin the third, essentially erasing the deficit. The Rockets later tied the game, 71-71, on an Ariza three-point play with four minutes left in the quarter.

Denver again responded with five straight points and took a lead into the next frame, 85-78.

Billups had 15 points for the Nuggets, who made 7-of-12 from three-point range and shot 47 percent overall. Billups left the game with a strained left groin in the third quarter...David Andersen had 17 points and nine boards for the Rockets, who were 11-of-28 from long distance and shot 44.4 percent overall.