Nuggets continue home success with win over Sonics

Reggie Evans added 22 points and nine rebounds off the bench against his former club in the victory. DerMarr Johnson added 16 points for the Nuggets, who have won three straight and five of six.

Andre Miller added nine points and 15 assists for Denver, which was without Kenyon Martin, who sat out the game to rest a sore knee.

Luke Ridnour scored 18 points, grabbed nine boards and handed out eight assists for Seattle, which has lost three of its last five games. Robert Swift donated 17 points and 11 boards in defeat, while Ray Allen scored just 14 points on 6-of-19 from the floor.

Seattle held a 25-16 lead in the first frame, the largest margin of the opening half, but Denver responded with an 11-2 run to deadlock things at 27-27 after the opening quarter.

Neither team could create any distance in the second and Denver held a slim 57-55 lead heading into halftime.

The Nuggets used a 10-2 run, capped by an Anthony dunk with 8:31 left in the third quarter, to take a 69-61 lead. Denver later extended to a 76-63 lead on Anthony’s jumper with 4:50 remaining in the period.

Denver continued to roll for the rest of the stanza and led by 10, 89-79, entering the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets were never threatened in the final frame. After an Allen jumper made it a 91-84 contest less then two minutes into the quarter, Denver countered with two straight treys from Johnson to restore a 13-point edge.

Seven straight points by the Nuggets made it a 112-97 game with a little over three minutes left.

Game Notes

Johnson finished 4-of-7 from three-point range...Ruben Patterson added 11 points for Denver...Chris Wilcox scored 13 points for Seattle, which shot 41.8 percent from the floor...Denver shot 46.2 percent in the game en route to its fifth straight home win.