Seattle – Sure, it’s January. But a man can wish, can’t he?
Nuggets coach George Karl has one.
“I want one more Seattle,” he said. “I want one more run like we had. One more May when the city was alive with basketball. One more opportunity to … when you walk out of the building, your ears hurt because the noise was too loud.”
For a few frantic moments at his old stomping grounds, the noise was once again deafening. But his new team, the Nuggets, had a quieting formula of big shots and big defensive stops in a 117-112 win over the Sonics at KeyArena on Tuesday night.
“It’s like we’re starting to come together,” center Marcus Camby said. “We always know we’re a team that’s going to put points on the board, but I think the games we did win, these last five games, came on the defensive end. Everybody made a solid commitment to get the job done.”
The Nuggets’ fifth straight win had a ragged start and furious finish. A 10-0 run late in the fourth quarter turned a 106-103 deficit into a 113-106 lead with 1:12 left to play. Guard Steve Blake provided the punch in that run, hitting two critical 3-pointers out of timeouts. One was drawn-up by Karl; the other was improvised on a drive by Allen Iverson. Iverson was cut off in the lane and kicked the ball back to Blake, who ranged in behind him at the arc.
“Ever since he’s been here that’s all it seems like he’s been doing is making key baskets for us,” Camby said. “He knocked down shots in the Portland game. He had the key four-point play in Houston the other night and the 12 dimes he had (against Memphis). He’s been terrific.”
Blake wasn’t the only one. For the Sonics, it was Ray Allen, who made 3-pointer after 3-pointer en route to a game-high 44 points. He scored 22 of his total in the fourth quarter on 8-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
“What can you say about Ray Allen?” Blake said. “He was hitting shots with guys in his face all night.”
On the other side, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony came up big with his first 30-point game since returning from his suspension. He finished with 34 points and nine rebounds. The most recent time he topped 30 points was Dec. 16 when he had 34 against the Knicks.
Iverson had 21 points and 10 assists for his 10th double-double of the season. He topped the 20,000-point mark for his career with 2:04 left in the first half. He is the 30th player to score 20,000 or more points and is just one of three active players to do it (Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton).
It appeared at the start that the Nuggets would be run right out of the building. The Sonics jumped out to an 18-8 lead and seemed to have much more energy than the Nuggets, who were finishing the second of a back-to-back.
But Denver climbed back into the game, kept it close throughout and sealed it late in the fourth quarter.
“Every win feels good,” Reggie Evans said. “It’s time for people to start talking about us as a whole.”
Said Karl: “For a team that has played four games in five nights, I thought we had tremendous energy in the fourth quarter. … It was a great win for us. It was a great win for our confidence and the spirit of this team. Now, we can take a couple of days off and get to play Utah.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
