Carmelo Anthony was missing at the end of the game again.
Kevin Garnett scored 27 points and the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied for a 112-109 victory over the Nuggets on Friday night at the Pepsi Center in a game that ended with Anthony misfiring four times in the final 14 seconds.
“When you’re out there scrambling, trying to make a prayer shot, it’s kind of hard,” Anthony said one night after being ejected in the third quarter of a one-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“I wanted it. I wanted it. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don’t,” Anthony said. “I think I’ve got to get back into my game-winning shape.”
Anthony scored 28 points just 24 hours after being caught up in the league’s crackdown on bickering at officials. He stuck around for every second of this game, but couldn’t match his last-second magic that carried the Nuggets to five buzzer-beating wins last year.
Three of his misses in the closing seconds were from beyond the 3-point arc, the first of which didn’t sit well with his coach, George Karl, who had instructed his team to go for the quick two-pointer and the steal.
“It was definitely a quick-two situation,” Karl said. “I think with 18 seconds, we’ve got the ball, it’s just take it up the court and attack. If you fall into a good 3, you shoot it, but the 3s weren’t that good.”
Anthony missed from 24 feet, got his own rebound and missed the tip-in. The Nuggets got the board and Anthony missed from 26 feet with three seconds left, then had one last chance but was way off from 32 feet as the game ended.
“We probably would have fouled Melo in that situation, but in such a scramble I was afraid they would call it and he’d hit the shot,” Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey said. “Carmelo is so good he’d hit the 3 and get the free throw, too.”
Garnett was the hero instead, going 9-of-16 from the field and 9-of-11 from the line as he took advantage of Kenyon Martin’s frustration. He also grabbed 15 boards, 13 defensive, for his 35th straight double-double.
