The Nuggets received one more lucky break than they gave away in their clunky 90-89 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, a game with a book’s worth of moments in the final 22 seconds alone.
“The karma’s changed,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “We’re winning the close ones. We’re winning the ones where we don’t always make the plays, but the ball bounces the right way for us.”
Carmelo Anthony scored on a baseline dunk past defender Ira Newble with 21.9 seconds left. Then things really got weird.
The Cavaliers’ Sasha Pavlovic missed his first free throw by accident, then his second on purpose with 11.9 seconds left. Six-foot-3 guard Eric Snow got the rebound, but then Pavlovic threw the ball away with 4.6 seconds left.
After Eduardo Najera hit one of two free throws, Denver had a three-point lead and little time to blow it. The Nuggets purposefully fouled Cavs star LeBron James, who made his first free throw, prompting a planned second miss. Though Denver players felt he left for the rebound early, he pulled it down and got fouled again by Kenyon Martin with just sixth tenths of a second left.
This time James again hit his first shot, but missed the game-tier. Teammate Alan Henderson’s potential game-winning tip at the buzzer rolled just off to let the Nuggets off the hook. Denver is now 7-2 in 2006, if barely.
“I just can’t believe we gave so many breaks to them,” Najera said. “That’s the first thing we’ve got to make sure of. Even if the ball is loose, just tip it back somewhere. Don’t let somebody get a hand on it, especially near the rim.”
Role players like Najera and Henderson, with identical season highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds, stole the spotlight from Anthony and James. Anthony’s 17 points were his fewest in a full game since Nov. 23 at Detroit. Karl said his failure to pass out of double teams early hurt him later.
Overall, Karl said, “We had a sticky ball and we wouldn’t want to throw the ball to the weak side. We had that distrust in the game that sometimes shuts down your offense. But defensively we were good enough.”
And while James fell an assist shy of a triple-double, his 24 points came ugly – 7-for-20 from the field and 8-for-15 from the foul line. Anthony had a hand in James’ shooting, covering him for the first time in his career as Karl’s reward for his recent play.
“The whole game my focus was to stop LeBron from getting 30 points out there,” Anthony said. “It was a tough task. But I think I did a pretty decent game when I was on him.”
James said of his night, “I am the leader of this team and I’m supposed to make plays down the stretch. Put it on me.”
Cleveland would have avoided its fifth straight loss if not for its 20-for-35 foul shooting. The Nuggets shot 38.8 percent from the field and their five fast-break points tied a season low.
Martin’s line was typical of his team’s – an abysmal 3-for-16 shooting from the floor, but also 17 rebounds and 10-of-12 free throws to help him to 16 points.
“I know I’m missing layups and jumpers,” said Martin, who had his best rebounding game as a Nugget. “I don’t got to see the stat sheet to see that.”
All Nuggets would do well to keep away from this stat sheet. The league standings should make them happier.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or at athompson@denverpost.com.
