At the pinnacle of elation, one courtside fan leaped into the air and landed 5 feet onto the court.
Other Pepsi Center fans, amid the flabbergasted cheers, screamed into cellphones to friends who couldn’t believe they were actually there.
It was the third quarter and Denver’s Allen Iverson was unstoppable.
“I just felt like everything was going to go in,” Iverson said.
After three quarters against the Lakers at the Pepsi Center, Iverson had 49 points on 17-for-23 shooting.
But in the fourth quarter, the guard scored just one basket, while Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 12 points, including the dagger, in Los Angeles’ 111-107 win. Both teams are 11-8.
Bryant, a 12-year veteran and perennial all-star, scored three straight baskets in the final two minutes, capped by a 20-foot baseline jumper with 35.3 seconds left, for a 108-104 lead.
“He got in the open court,” Nuggets coach George Karl said, “and there he’s very difficult to defend.”
Iverson’s 51 points were the most scored in the NBA this season. It was the fifth-most points he has scored in his career, nine less than his career high of 60. And it was the third-most scored in Nuggets’ NBA history, tying three other players, most recently Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1995.
“I kept attacking,” Iverson said. “It seemed like every move that I made threw the defender off. After you hit a couple jump shots, the defender has to play the jumper. I’d get his feet set and was able to drive by and make something happen.”
Iverson, the only player to play the entire 48 minutes, finished 18-for-27, but just 1-for-4 in the fourth quarter.
Early on, every time Bryant held the ball, the crowd erupted in colliding boos and cheers. But with 2.5 seconds left in the first quarter, when Bryant slammed his left shoulder into the hardwood, the divided crowd gasped harmonically. Bryant winced on the floor, suffering a contusion.
He left the court but returned in the second quarter, again greeted to boos and cheers. Bryant had 11 points in the first quarter, 13 at the half, but earned his fourth foul early in the third quarter and sat the bench, a prime seat from which to watch Iverson, who scored 16 points in the third quarter.
The Nuggets hadn’t led in three quarters, but Iverson’s fadeaway jumper with 5:06 left in the third gave Denver its first lead, 75-73.
The rest of the game was a dogfight and a classic nail-biter, each basket energizing the arena. In the fourth quarter, one fan had to pat the back of another, just to settle him down. Another buried his head in his hands, too nervous to watch the game transpire.
Bryant finished with a team-high 25 points. Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, who was ejected from last Thursday’s Nuggets-Lakers game, scored 26 points.
In that game in Los Angeles, the Nuggets led the Lakers by 17 points in the first half — and ended up losing by 28. At the shootaround on Wednesday morning, Anthony called it “an embarrassing moment.”
Denver center Marcus Camby said, “We definitely feel like we owe this team.”
The Nuggets indeed gave Los Angeles a tremendous fight. But, alas, it comes up a loss.
Answer goes off
Nuggets guard Allen Iverson scored 51 points in a loss to the Lakers on Wednesday. Where that total ranks:
NUGGETS RECORD: MOST POINTS IN A GAME
73: David Thompson, at Det., 1978
54: Michael Adams, vs. Milw., 1991
54: Alex English, vs. Hou., 1985
51: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, at Utah, 1995
51: Alex English, at Miami, 1989
51: Allen Iverson, vs. Lakers, 2007
51: K. Vandeweghe, vs. Det., 1983
IVERSON’S HIGHEST-SCORING GAMES
60: vs. Orlando, 2005
58: vs. Houston, 2002
54: at Milwaukee, 2004
54: at Cleveland, 2001
53: at Atlanta, 2005
51: vs. Toronto, 2001
51: vs. Utah, 2004
51: vs. L.A. Lakers, Wednesday
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
Center Marcus Camby grabbed 20 rebounds, the sixth time this season he had 20 or more, including his second-straight game. … Forward Eduardo Najera made two 3-pointers for the second-straight game, finishing with 10 points. … The Nuggets only played with eight players, while Allen Iverson played all 48 minutes and forward Carmelo Anthony played 44. Iverson’s 51 points were the most-ever scored by a Nuggets player at Pepsi Center.
Final thought
Iverson said it: When he was in Philly, there were games in which he’d erupt and the team would lose. But in Denver, with this lineup, he felt when he erupted his team would win. But the Nuggets couldn’t clamp down defensively when it mattered.
Up next
At Dallas, 6 p.m., tonight
DENVER at DALLAS
6 p.m. tonight, TNT, KKFN 950 AM
Spotlight on Dirk Nowitzki: The reigning
MVP entered Wednesday averaging 21.2
points per game, good for 15th in the NBA.
Last season, Nowitzki finished with 24.6,
tied for ninth. His scoring this season has
been consistent, regardless of how his team
performs – 21.0 average in wins, 21.5 in losses.
This season, he averages 3.8 assists per
game, compared to a 2.7 career average.
Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony entered Wednesday averaging 25.3 points per game (fifth in NBA) and Allen Iverson had 23.5 (eighth), the only teammates in the top 10 in scoring. The Nuggets are first in the NBA in blocks (109) and steals (183).
Mavericks: Last season, Dallas beat Denver three out of four games, the only Nuggets win coming at the Pepsi Center on April 6. The Nuggets’ last win in Dallas was Jan. 31, 2004, losing five after that. Dallas entered Wednesday with the second fewest turnovers per game in the NBA.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
