Grizzlies snap 17-game Denver skid

Lawrence Roberts contributed 16 points and Mike Miller added 13 points and dished out a career-high 14 assists for the Grizzlies, who snapped a 17-game skid in the Mile High city.

"Obviously it was kind of an interesting game, based on how we started to how we finished," said Memphis head coach Mike Fratello. "Obviously we haven’t had success on the road against this team. I’m happy for the guys."

Carmelo Anthony contributed a season-high 37 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Nuggets, who saw their five-game winning streak end. Four of those victories came at home, and Denver was looking to win six straight for the first time since January 14-25 last season, when they took seven in a row.

Marcus Camby had a double-double, donating 14 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort. Yakhouba Diawara and Eduardo Najera added 13 apiece.

Both teams shot a dismal 48 percent from the floor. Memphis finished 45-of-92 while Denver was 38-of-78.

Leading 81-80 after a see-saw third quarter, the Grizzlies used a 10-2 run to blow the game open in the final session.

Rudy Gay started things off with a jumper, but Anthony matched the effort at the other end. Roberts then grabbed the rebound after Warrick’s missed layup, dunking the ball to keep the three-point lead. Then, after Anthony missed a jump shot for Denver, Roberts drained another basket. Brian Cardinal had a tip-in and Eddie Jones finished the flurry with a jumper for Memphis to make it 91-82.

The Nuggets had five missed shots and two turnovers at the other end during the Grizzlies’ last two scores of that run and trailed by nine or better the rest of the way.

"To me, basically we did not play Nugget basketball," said Denver head coach George Karl. "After the first five minutes we stopped running. We just stood and held the ball. We over-relied on Mello (Carmelo Anthony). We have to get other players involved."

The Nuggets went on a 19-8 run in the first quarter, capped by Anthony’s driving layup and ensuing foul shots, where he went one-of-two from the line. Memphis responded by scoring nine of the last 16 points in the quarter, but the Nuggets ended the frame with a 25-17 advantage.

Memphis answered by going on a 21-9 run to open the second quarter. Warrick had nine points in the spurt, finishing with a reverse layup and a shot from the charity stripe to make it 38-34 at 5:47. The Grizzlies continued their hot shooting the rest of the way, rallying to take a 53-52 lead into the half.

Game Notes

Anthony was on the court 44:49, including the entire first quarter and all of the second half...Denver leads the all-time series 29-15...Before the victory, the Grizzlies were the only NBA team never to win at the Pepsi Center.