The winless Nuggets lost in big fashion twice on Wednesday night.
Denver fell 109-107 to the New York Knicks at the Pepsi Center to drop to 0-3. Knicks guard Jamal Crawford scored 20 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter and hit a late 3-pointer to seal the win. To make matters worse for Denver, big man Kenyon Martin learned he will have surgery on his right knee to remove loose bodies.
“We are snakebitten a little bit,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “Playing with a little lack of confidence a little bit.”
Carmelo Anthony’s layup with 1:32 remaining gave Denver a 106-101 lead. A 3-pointer by New York’s Stephon Marbury, however, tied the game at 106 with 44.7 seconds left. After a missed jumper by Denver’s cold-shooting Earl Boykins with about 30 seconds left, the ball went out of bounds and the Knicks took posssession.
The Nuggets’ Eduardo Najera stole a pass from Marbury at midcourt. Najera hoped to hit an open Anthony down the court, but Crawford leaped in front and stole the ball. Crawford then raced to the 3-point line and made a 3-pointer, despite being well-guarded by Najera, with 3.7 seconds left to give New York a 3-point lead. After the Nuggets called timeout, the Knicks swarmed Crawford in celebratory fashion.
“I guess I was trying to go for the home run at the end,” Najera said. “I knew (Crawford) was coming. I should have taken a second or two to make a better decision. It happens.
“I saw Carmelo wide open. I just got a bad angle for the pass. I’ve got to admit, Crawford made a very good play. He made a 3. I was very surprised. I even fouled him.”
Said Crawford: “You don’t have time to think. You just have to keep going because Carmelo then has two (points). You’ve got to do whatever you’ve got to do to get that steal.”
Crawford has seven game-winning shots in his Knicks career. The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder is averaging 21.6 points in his past five games against Denver, including two 30-plus point games.
“My coaches and teammates have a lot of confidence in me,” Crawford said.
The Nuggets wasted Anthony’s 37 points, eight assists and six rebounds. New York’s David Lee intentionally fouled Anthony with 2.9 seconds left to send him to the free-throw line. Anthony made the first to trim Denver’s deficit to 109-107. He intentionally missed the second free throw on the left side of the rim. Denver’s J.R. Smith caught the rebound in the air, but missed the potential tying shot.
“We were fortunate to get the bounce,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “It was a play that we executed for the first time this year. We ran it pretty well.”
The Nuggets are 0-3 for the first time since the lockout shortened 1998-99 season and have blown a fourth-quarter lead in each game. It doesn’t get any easier, as Denver has a four-game road trip starting at Philadelphia on Friday.
“Our record is 0-3, we all feel we should be 3-0 right now,” Denver’s Marcus Camby said.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-954-1098 or mspears@denverpost.com.
