Allen Iverson scored 29 points despite spraining his right ring finger in the first half as the Nuggets snapped San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak with a 109-96 victory over the Spurs on Friday night.
Carmelo Anthony overcame a bad first half (1-for-7 from the field) to finish with 25 points. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in their last 15 games at the Pepsi Center, which was rocking like it hadn’t since Denver faced San Antonio in the 2007 playoffs.
In overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit with a dominating second half, the Nuggets swept the Spurs at home for the first time since 1988-89.
On Jan. 3, they beat the Spurs 80-77. This one was more in line with Denver’s preferred style, with lots of running and gunning — and almost everybody got into the act.
Eduardo Najera scored 19 points and fellow reserve J.R. Smith added 15 to spark Denver’s second-half surge. Smith’s 3-pointer from the top of the key after Najera tipped a rebound to him made it 96-81 with six minutes left.
Despite a 37-24 record, the Nuggets are still on the fringe of the wild Western Conference playoff picture. They remained one game behind Golden State for the eighth spot heading into the final six weeks.
After missing four straight free throws, the Nuggets closed the third quarter on a 21-7 run capped by Najera’s 3-pointer from the top of the circle that gave Denver an 80-73 lead.
The Nuggets stretched their lead to 86-73 and mostly maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Manu Ginobili led San Antonio with 24 points and Tim Duncan scored 23 for the Spurs.
Chucky Atkins returned to action for Denver after missing 26 games following sports hernia surgery. He didn’t score in 7 1/2 minutes, missing his only field-goal attempt.
