Auburn Hills, Mich. – Essentially, 1.7 seconds separated the Nuggets from a 4-1 road trip.
But life isn’t always fair. And just as Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas found the ball headed his way for a game-winning tip-in Thursday, Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace answered prayers with an improbable 62-foot 3-pointer that tied the game at the buzzer of regulation and allowed Detroit the chance to win 113-109 in overtime Monday night at The Palace.
“Sheed hit that shot. It was a lucky shot,” Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. “It was luck.”
Luck or not, it ended the Nuggets’ five-game Eastern Conference road trip with a record of 2-3. And more than anything, perhaps a bit of nonchalance was to blame. Detroit media buzzed at the sight of Nuggets players appearing to walk off court before the final horn had sounded on that fateful last play.
“We were walking off the court,” Nuggets guard J.R. Smith said, emphasizing “were.” “Until that thing hit the backboard and went in.”
The Nuggets weren’t the only ones. Most of the crowd at The Palace had streamed out during the timeout at 1.5 seconds, but was brought back by the joyous screams of those who had stayed. Those few had just seen Marcus Camby’s midcourt inbounds pass stolen by Wallace, who heaved up the shot that tied the game. An instant-replay review confirmed the shot was good.
“It looked good the whole way,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “As soon as I saw it halfway in flight I was like ‘That thing is on line.’ That was crazy.”
Said Wallace: “We shoot those all the time before the game. This one went in, but it wasn’t like it won a championship or anything.”
Pretty much every player with a good look at the shot had a feeling it was going in. Except Anthony.
“I thought that he missed it,” Anthony said. “But it went in, and I knew we were going to have to keep fighting in overtime.”
The Nuggets took a 106-103 lead with 59 seconds left in overtime on a basket by Allen Iverson. But the Pistons, who played without starters Chris Webber and Richard Hamilton, both out with flu- like symptoms, closed the game on a 10-3 run. Another Wallace 3-pointer tied the game at 106. Two Wallace free throws with 18.7 seconds left put the Pistons up 109-106 and they never looked back.
Wallace scored eight of his 22 points in overtime.
Nuggets coach George Karl said he “would have liked the ball to be thrown more toward more the rim or the corner, but you can’t criticize a lucky shot; it is a lucky shot. You can give him a hundred and he won’t make one. But he made one.”
Smith said he had seen a shot like that before, but “I ain’t never seen it happen to me.”
The Pistons swept the season series with the Nuggets and sent them home with a sour taste.
“If we would have left this road trip 3-2, I would have said it was a pretty decent road trip,” Anthony said. “But going home 2-3, we played some pretty decent games. We did all right on this road trip.”
Wasted were strong efforts from Camby (23 points, 13 rebounds, four assists), Nene (21 points, career-high 17 rebounds) and Smith (21 points, four steals). Detroit was led by Billups with 34 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.
“We played well,” Camby said. “But it just didn’t seem like we got rewarded for all the work we put into the games.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
Pistons 113,
Nuggets 109, OT
FG FT Reb
DENVER Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt Anthony 45:17 6-19 1-2 1-5 3 4 13
Nene 46:33 8-13 5-5 9-17 4 5 21
Camby 41:06 8-15 8-8 3-13 4 1 24
Blake 25:44 0-6 0-0 1-3 3 3 0
Iverson 44:27 5-14 5-9 0-0 8 1 16
Kleiza 23:12 4-9 2-2 1-2 0 5 12
Evans 8:30 0-1 2-2 1-1 0 2 2
Smith 30:11 8-15 0-0 1-5 2 4 21
Totals 265:00 39-92 23-28 17-46 24 25 109
Percentages: FG .424, FT .821. 3-point goals: 8-21, .381 (Smith 5-10, Kleiza 2-3, Iverson 1-5, Blake 0-1, Anthony 0-2). Team rebounds: 4. Team turnovers: 14 (22 points). Blocked shots: 5 (Nene 2, Camby, Smith, Iverson). Turnovers: 14 (Iverson 5, Anthony 3, Camby 2, Nene 2, Kleiza, Smith). Steals: 11 (Smith 4, Camby 3, Iverson 2, Nene 2). Technical fouls: None.
FG FT Reb
DETROIT Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt Prince 45:09 8-15 3-3 3-8 2 1 19
Maxiell 25:29 4-4 0-0 1-5 0 5 8
Wallace 33:50 6-15 8-9 1-9 3 5 22
Murray 44:36 4-4 2-2 0-2 3 3 10
Billups 47:21 11-23 9-10 2-5 10 3 34
McDyess 38:43 7-13 6-8 0-11 2 2 20
Hunter 8:41 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Delfino 13:32 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Davis 5:58 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Mohammed 1:41 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 265:00 40-79 28-32 7-41 21 20 113
Percentages: FG .506, FT .875. 3-point goals: 5-18, .278 (Billups 3-8, Wallace 2-6, Delfino 0-1, Prince 0-3). Team rebounds: 10. Team turnovers: 18 (29 points). Blocked shots: 6 (Maxiell 3, Prince 3). Turnovers: 18 (Murray 6, Billups 3, Wallace 3, McDyess 2, Prince 2, Hunter, Maxiell). Steals: 9 (Maxiell 2, Prince 2, Murray 2, Billups, Davis, Wallace). Technical fouls: None.
Denver 13 31 27 27 11 – 109
Detroit 26 16 29 27 15 – 113
A – 22,076 (22,076). T – 2:39. Officials – Mark Wunderlich, Ron Olesiak, Matt Boland.
WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
J.R. Smith has totaled seven steals in the past two games. His four Monday tied a career high. … Nene has had back-to-back 20-point games. … The Nuggets had 24 fast-break points to Detroit’s eight. … The Nuggets forced 11 steals.
FINAL THOUGHT
The Nuggets will be glad to get home after a tough road trip.
NEXT
Seattle at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Wednesday
