NBA Game Summary - Minnesota at Denver

04.1.2006

Denver, CO (Basketball News) - Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points as Denver beat Minnesota, 106-94, at the Pepsi Center.

Andre Miller notched 16 points and eight assists for the Nuggets, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Ruben Patterson scored 14 points, while Kenyon Martin had 11 points. Marcus Camby and Reggie Evans grabbed 11 rebounds apiece. Howard Eisley scored a season-high nine points.

The Nuggets are in first place in the Northwest Division and are No. 3 in the Western Conference playoff race.

"Denver played physical and aggressive on the boards," Minnesota coach Dwane Casey said. "They got a lot of offensive boards and second possessions and Carmelo [Anthony] was very aggressive. They played like a team needs to play that is getting ready for the playoffs."

Kevin Garnett posted 22 points and 16 rebounds for his 29th straight double- double - the longest mark since 1983 when Moses Malone notched 44 in a row.

Ricky Davis scored 21 points for the Timberwolves, who had their two-game winning streak broken. Marcus Banks scored 17 points, and Mark Blount scored 15. Rashad McCants added 10 points.

Minnesota outscored Denver by two points in the third quarter to lead 76-75 heading into the fourth, but Denver outscored the ’Wolves 31-18 in the final period to run away with the victory.

"I trusted our team would figure out what we needed to do to win since we started out kind of slow back and forth," Denver coach George Karl said. "We wore them down physically in the fourth quarter, and that made a big difference. Our activity on the offensive glass was great and getting to the free throw line was also good."

Denver grabbed an early advantage and led 27-26 heading into the second stanza, in which the Nuggets and ’Wolves both scored 28 points. Denver led 55-54 at halftime.

"This was a good win for us," Anthony said. "We had good aggression in the fourth quarter."

The Nuggets, who scored over 100 points for the ninth straight game, are 24-13 at home this season.

Minnesota has lost 11 in a row on the road and is a brutal 8-28 as the visitor this season. The Timberwolves’ last win away from home was on February 6th at Phoenix.

Patterson was ejected with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter after an altercation with McCants. Justin Reed was ejected with 1:02 left after an altercation with Anthony...This was the fourth and final meeting of the campaign between the clubs. The teams split a pair of games at the Target Center, while the Nuggets beat Minnesota in both games at the Pepsi Center...Minnesota has lost four of its last five at Denver.

Post your comment:

No profanity or inaproppriate remarks. All i.p. addresses will be saved and abuse/hate posts will be reported to providers and authorities as part of the anti-spam act of 2003, thank you for posting comments on the articles only.