DALLAS — The official play-by-play description reads: “Anthony Driving Layup.”
Here’s the interpretation: In the biggest moment of the Nuggets’ biggest game to date, Carmelo Anthony bulldozed toward the basket, leapt into opponents James Singleton and Dirk Nowitzki, somehow getting off the shot attempt — and making it.
Friday’s big basket, with 12.2 seconds left, proved to be the game-winner in Denver’s 103-101 road win at Dallas.
“I wasn’t going to take the jump shot,” said Anthony, who had the ball on the right wing. “I was going to go to the hole.”
On the ensuing possession, the Mavericks (43-29) had a chance to score, but Nowitzki and Antoine Wright missed shots. Anthony got the second rebound, drew a foul and sank a free throw with 1.2 seconds left, giving him a game-high 43 points.
With the victory, the Nuggets accomplished something no Nuggets team had ever accomplished — a season sweep of the Mavericks. The Nuggets are 47-26, in first place in the Northwest Division and edging closer to third-place Houston in the Western Conference. (The Rockets, also 47-26, have the tiebreaker).
As for this week’s road trip, it hardly went as planned. The Nuggets lost Monday at Phoenix, against seemingly the worst of the three road opponents. And then Nene was suspended for the following two games. But the Nuggets won both, defeating the Hornets in New Orleans and the Mavericks in Dallas.
“This is getting us prepared for the first round of the playoffs,” guard J.R. Smith said. “Those games were must-wins games.”
As for Smith, he took advantage of open spacing to shoot 9-for-12 on the night, including a questionable — but unquestionably clutch — 3-point attempt with 1:15 left.
He also got in a little squabble. After Anthony was fouled with 1.2 seconds left, Dallas’ Wright was on the ground in front of Denver’s bench. Two Denver coaches helped up Wright, when Smith — who has a history with Wright — shared some unpleasantries right in Wright’s face. The two had to be separated.
“He was in our bench area,” Smith said. “Just a bad spot for him.”
Denver won in a weird way. The Nuggets shot a blistering 56 percent and the Mavericks shot a listless 35.6, but the game was close because of the free-throw disparity. Dallas was 30-for-37, Denver 12-for-18. And the Nuggets’ coach wasn’t happy.
“We win a game when we didn’t get any whistles,” George Karl said. “I thought there were three, four calls in the last two minutes, perfect defense in my mind, that gets whistles.
“I don’t deny that right now, there’s almost on a daily basis we don’t understand how the game’s being refereed. But that’s part of the psychology of basketball. You need to stay above it. When you get out-free-throwed 37 to 18, and we’re the driving team and they’re the jump-shooting team, you just got to go into the film room tomorrow, put them on tape, send them to the league office and see what they say.”
Anthony averages 22.3 points per game this season, but in the past five games, he has averaged 31.2.
“Listen — I can always score,” said Anthony, who was 18-for-29 from the field. “Tonight, I needed to step up. Other nights, other guys step up.” Indeed, on Friday, Anthony made 18 shots while the other Nuggets besides Smith combined for 15 makes.
And now, Denver heads home for games against Golden State and New York, before one of the biggest games of the season — Thursday against division rival Utah. This is getting fun.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
The Mavs were without starting point guard Jason Kidd (back) and No. 2 scorer Josh Howard (ankle). . . . Dirk Nowitzki missed eight of his final nine shots. “Kenyon (Martin) has a presence to him,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “And he also got some hands on balls that made him frustrated.”
Final thought
Most of the Nuggets had an off-night, but Carmelo Anthony had one of his best games of the season.
Up next
vs. Golden State, 7 p.m. tonight.
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
