They didn’t make life easy for themselves, but the Nuggets narrowly avoided letting a Los Angeles team off the hook for the second straight game in a slippery 110-108 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday at the Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets burst out to an explosive start before letting their opponent back into the contest for the second straight game. But unlike their Tuesday loss at the L.A. Clippers, the Nuggets held on, avenging an overtime loss to the Lakers in their home opener.
Carmelo Anthony performed late-game magic that is becoming routine, shaking off a rough shooting night to nail a 19-footer from the wing with 3.8 seconds left for the game’s final basket.
“It’s a huge shot. Thank God he made it,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “It just seems like he has a cockiness and a confidence to make shots. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a guy make as many shots when it counts.”
That marked the 10th time in his career in 15 chances he has connected on the game-winning or game-tying basket in the final 10 seconds. It also marked his eighth key shot at the end of games this year.
“I told them at the end of regulation if it gets like that down the stretch, I want to put the team on my back,” Anthony said after the game. “I think I did a pretty good job of doing that. Find the open people and taking what was given to me.”
Andre Miller hit just two of four free throws in the final 1:12 to keep his team from gaining the lead, but his second pair of free throws did Denver the favor of fouling out Lakers forward Lamar Odom.
The last chance for L.A. (40-36) came and went when Luke Walton’s 3-pointer went a bit long ahead of the buzzer.
Kobe Bryant’s four-point play with 1:14 left in regulation – on a 3-pointer plus a foul from Greg Buckner – tied the game for the first time. The Nuggets could not get Anthony the ball in the final seconds, and Walton blocked Buckner’s jumper with six-tenths of a second left.
Bryant’s buzzer miss forced OT, though he gave his team its first lead of the game on a two-handed dunk with 4:18 left in overtime.
“I’m just trying to do what I can to help us win ballgames,” Bryant said. “The same thing we’ve been dealing with all season: double, triple-teams … but I found creases. Tonight we just weren’t making stops.”
Francisco Elson, who entered Thursday averaging 4.4 points per game, did to L.A. what Chris Mihm, the light-scoring Lakers center, has done to Denver in the past.
In his second straight start, Elson’s 15 points through two quarters matched a season high. He finished with a career-best 21, plus 11 rebounds.
Karl gave props to Elson afterward. “He was fantastic the whole game,” Karl said. “His game was probably the reason we won it.”
Anthony scored 33 points, though he shot 12-for-30 along the way. As usual, Bryant led L.A. with 42 points in a similar shooting night that saw him go 13-for-32.
“We made him miss a large quantity of shots,” Karl said, “and still he ends up with 42.”
Anthony seemed surprised at how Bryant’s shots added up.
“It didn’t even seem like he had 40 points,” he said. “I think Buck (Greg Buckner) did a good job of making him take tough shots. Kobe is going to get his regardless of who is out there.”
By winning, the Nuggets (42-34) dropped their magic number to two. Any combination of two Denver wins or Utah losses earns the Nuggets the Northwest Division. If the Jazz loses tonight at Minnesota, the Nuggets could clinch as soon as Saturday.
The Nuggets felt the vibe.
“It was real crazy, but it was fun,” Reggie Evans said. “That’s how you make a man out of yourself, playing in that type of atmosphere, playing that good of a team. …
“It felt real good.”
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or at athompson@denverpost.com.
