The Denver Nuggets are made out of fairy dust and exclamation marks, and a captivating run continued Wednesday night as the team beat the San Antonio Spurs at the Pepsi Center 115-112. In a glorified track meet with some shotput exercises, the Nuggets stormed back from big deficits in each half, keeping the pressure on San Antonio until Denver could finally overcome the talent gap late. Al Harrington played a huge role, hitting five of six three-pointers en route to 27 points off the bench.
Spurs Vs. Nuggets: Denver Continues Captivating Run, Dekes San Antonio
Antonio McDyess did all he could to keep the Spurs alive late, remaining incredibly active on the offensive glass and, with Tim Duncan's injury replacement Tiago Splitter, anchored a solid frontline performace for S.A. But Harrington and Denver's guards were on fire, hitting 12 of 21 threes and shooting 50 percent from the floor. The Spurs shot just 43 percent, relying on a paucity of turnovers and good work on the offensive glass (as mentioned above) to stay in it. And stay in it they did. Manu Ginobili had a shot to tie the game in the final seconds, but couldn't make it fall. Alas.
In other action:
Nets 98, Cavaliers 94 (OT): Extra time at The Q! Brook Lopez sent the match to overtime with a late tip. In OT, the Nets put up 16, almost as many as they had in the entire first quarter. Lopez, Kris Humphries and Sasha Vujacic had 18 apiece; Humphries also had 23 rebounds. J.J. Hickson had 17 and 17 for Cleveland.
Sixers 105, Hawks 100: The 76ers trailed by nine with a minute left in the third quarter. A 14-0 run over four minutes starring eight points by Louis Williams fixed that. Seven Sixers scored in double figures (balanced attack!), and the Hawks are in danger of being the coldest team in the playoffs.
Heat 100, Pistons 94: Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to score 46 points on 33 shots (including trips to the line). That's good output! Rip Hamilton had 27 for Detroit.
Thunder 106, Jazz 94: Al Jefferson had 32 points, but the Thunder dance and dance some more. Russell Westbrook scored 31 on 11-17 shooting, and Kevin Durant scored 29. Derrick Favors received a DNP-CD; I received a WTF.
Rockets 131, Warriors 112: Chuck Hayes earned his first career triple-double with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists -- that's right, assists. Should the Warriors force an asterisk onto that? You be the judge.
Suns 114, Raptors 106: Phoenix put forth a gutty performance after Tuesday's triple-overtime headbanger to beat the Raptors. Steve Nash obviously needed some rest, so Aaron Brooks popped up for 25 points and eight assists off the bench.
Kings 97, Bucks 90: Milwaukee had two bad results on Wednesday, with the Pacers' win and the Bucks' own (inexcusable) loss. Marcus Thornton is serious, scoring 27 points to bring his per-game average as a King to 21.8. Andrew Bogut committed a touchy offensive foul with less than a minute left to give Sacramento (after free throws) a four-point advantage. With the Kings in full control up four inside of 12 seconds, Bogut hammered Donte Greene on a screen to end the game. That's a frustrated dude.
Clippers 127, Wizards 119 (2OT): Yes, Staples Center saw five overtimes in two days. Hope those parking attendants got paid time-and-a-half. (Wait, this is L.A. Everyone left with 10 minutes left in regulation! /cliche) JaVale McGee was kind of wonderful with 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks; John Wall was also fantastic, while Jordan Crawford very obviously learned shot selection from Nick Young. Blake Griffin had a triple-double with 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
See More:
