Kenyon Martin took a bounce pass from Chauncey Billups and drove for the go-ahead dunk with nine seconds left Friday night, lifting the Nuggets to a 105-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Pepsi Center.
Andre Iguodala of the 76ers was called for traveling on the next possession and teammate Andre Miller was hit with a technical foul with 2.9 seconds left. Billups made the free throw, then Chucky Atkins made two more to push Denver’s lead to four points and seal Philadelphia’s third straight loss.
J.R. Smith hit seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 27 points for the Nuggets (19-11), who trailed by as many as 17 midway through the third quarter and needed a season-high 15 3-pointers to avoid their fifth loss in six games. Iguodala led Philly (12-17) with 24 points, but didn’t score after finishing a three-point play to give the Sixers an 88-76 lead with 8:20 left.
Billups finished with 26 points and 10 assists. Nene added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Miller, used as trade fodder two seasons ago when the Nuggets dealt for Allen Iverson, had 19 points and eight assists for the Sixers. Louis Williams finished with 16 points, and his nice alley-oop to Marreese Speights gave Philly a 101-100 lead with 17.7 seconds left to set the stage for Martin’s big dunk.
Trailing by 12 early in the fourth, the Nuggets went on a 20-7 run to grab the lead with 2:29 left, and it was almost exclusively from behind the 3-point line. Playing without Carmelo Anthony (elbow) for the third straight game, the Nuggets went 12 straight minutes in the third and fourth quarters without making anything from the field but 3-pointers.
Smith’s 3-pointer with 2:29 left gave Denver a 96-95 lead, its first since the first half.
Funny, then, that the Nuggets won the game by going hard to the basket. Martin took a bounce pass from Billups at the top of the key and, uncovered, drove hard to the hoop. He dunked over the Sixers’ Samuel Dalembert for the go-ahead points.
The game was a great example of how hard it is to win on the road in the NBA. Philly did almost all the “little things” right while the Nuggets seemed content to fire away from long range for about the first 44 minutes.
Trailing by one with a minute left, Smith forced a tough 3 over Miller and missed, and it looked like Philadelphia might steal a win on this, the first of a five-game Western road swing in which the combined record of the opponents is 79-65. But Williams missed a runner in the lane on the next possession and Billups responded with a 16-footer for a 100-99 lead with 27 seconds left to set up the finish.
Martin finished with 12 points for Denver.
