Martin and Anthony lead Denver over Boston

Andre Miller tallied 20 points and 14 assists for the Nuggets, who ended a three-game slide to improve to 3-1 on their current six-game homestand.

Paul Pierce had 29 points and Delonte West recorded a career-high 20 points and six assists for Boston, which ended a five-game road trip 1-4.

Trailing 36-31 early in the second quarter, the Nuggets went on an 11-2 run to take the lead for good. Francisco Elson’s bucket with about five minutes gone in the stanza ended the burst for a 42-38 edge.

The game remained close going into halftime, 58-53, and Denver pulled away in the third.

Ahead 80-74, the Nuggets scored 13 of the final 17 points of the frame to extend to a 93-78 lead going into the fourth. Miller had four points during the surge, which allowed the Nuggets to cruise in the fourth.

Denver took its largest lead of the game, 108-85 after an Earl Boykins bucket three minutes into the final 12 minutes of play. The Nuggets then coasted to the finish.

"We should have put them away earlier than we did," Anthony said. "For my teammates to step up and hit shots helped me out tonight."

Boykins ended with 18 points for Denver, which won for just the third time in its last 10 games overall.

"I thought some guys gave good effort tonight, but some have their luggage in mind on the plane already," said Boston head coach Doc Rivers. "Turnovers and shot selection killed us."

Game Notes

Denver has won three straight over Boston...This was the first meeting of the season between these two clubs...Denver improved to 10-7 at home...Boston fell to 3-12 on the road...Boston leads the all-time series 40-24...Each team shot over 50 percent for the game...Boston hit 50.6 percent of its shots while Denver went for 52.6 percent.