DALLAS — If Wednesday night was unsatisfying on the defensive and outcome fronts in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday cured all of that.
And then some.
The Nuggets’ 122-109 rout of Dallas was akin to having a triple cheeseburger one night and a garden salad the next. The bad stuff was gone, leaving nothing but the good. As such, the Nuggets got one big victory over an elite opponent. It was Denver’s second win over a team with a winning record this season.
But few were talking of statement wins afterward.
“Any win that we can get on the road against whoever is going to always be good,” Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said, “especially coming in a back-to-back with the Lakers last night on our home court.”
Said coach George Karl: “I think every win is great. I don’t evaluate it on Dallas. Winning any game in the NBA is a difficult task, a difficult challenge. I don’t care if it’s against Tampa Bay or Omaha, if it counts as a win, you’ve got to get them.”
Still, there were clear gold stars in the Nuggets’ performance. The Mavericks (12-8), for all of their struggles this season, are still considered an elite team in the Western Conference. It was the Nuggets’ first win in Dallas since 2004, a span of five games. The 122 points were the most the Mavericks had given up this season. The Nuggets limited Dallas to 41 percent from the field, while hitting 50 percent of their tries.
Allen Iverson was every bit as brilliant as in his 51-point performance against the Lakers, only in this one, he hit shots when they mattered most. The guard scored eight of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter; 20 came after halftime.
“I’m just trying to do whatever I can do for my team to win basketball games,” Iverson said. “I knew it was going to be tough to come in after playing 48 minutes last night. But once you get on the court, you don’t think about that, just the love for the game and the fact that you’re trying to do it for your team.”
Iverson has played 91 minutes combined in the past two games.
“I’m tired of people saying he lost a step,” Anthony said of Iverson. “Please stop saying that.”
The Nuggets threatened to blow the reeling Mavericks out early, taking a 16-point lead in the second quarter, but could not hold off a Dallas rally in the second half.
The Mavericks made a run in the third quarter, eliminating the Nuggets’ lead on a Jerry Stackhouse layup that tied the score at 82 with 3:30 left. But the Nuggets buckled down, never losing the lead. Anthony scored 14 points in the quarter, many late in the frame, and the Nuggets took a 98-92 lead into the fourth.
The Nuggets separated themselves in the fourth quarter with a 24-17 scoring edge.
“We finished the game,” forward Kenyon Martin said. “If you keep playing hard, good things happen for you. (Wednesday) night, we didn’t finish the game.”
And on an off-shooting night for Anthony (9-of-30, 23 points), others came up big. Linas Kleiza played his best game since suffering an ankle injury two weeks ago, scoring 23 points. Martin chipped in with 18 points and seven rebounds.
“We needed this one,” Martin said. “We came out and we played well for four quarters. That’s the start of something good for us, if we can come out and put together games.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
