Game-winning shots? Been there, done that.
With the Kobe-less Lakers hanging around — down two points and the seconds slipping away — Denver all-star Carmelo Anthony added to his late-in-game legend, unleashing a game-winning block, swatting away Derek Fisher’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer Thursday night. The Nuggets thus survived, 98-96, winning a wild one at the Pepsi Center.
“It feels good to do something else, other than hitting a game-winner,” said Anthony, who said he had never won a game on a block. “But that felt just as good.”
The Nuggets led the No. 1 Lakers (55-23) by as many as 15 points in the third quarter but let that lead slip through their hands. Entering the fourth quarter, Denver actually trailed by one point, 74-73.
Then Denver trailed by seven in the fourth, but Melo led a valiant comeback, scoring nine fourth-quarter points.
Anthony twisted his right ankle on the final play but called it “nothing major” and is probable for Saturday.
With Thursday’s win, Denver (52-27) is back in familiar territory — the No. 2 spot in the West. That’s where Denver sat for much of the season, until Dallas made the big trade for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood (and started playing like the 1986 Celtics). With three games to play, Denver is a half-game ahead of Dallas and Phoenix (which have four games left). Denver is a full game ahead of Utah — which, like Denver, has three games left — and the Nuggets have the tiebreaker and thus a significant advantage toward winning their second-straight Northwest Division title.
If the Nuggets win two of their last three games, the banner is theirs.
Or: If Utah loses today at New Orleans and Denver wins Saturday against the Spurs, yep, Denver gets the division.
“I think that’s the most important thing in our mind right now,” Melo said, “to at least win a division and see what happens from there.”
The Nuggets received their best gift since Ty Lawson on draft night when the Lakers announced that Kobe Bryant wouldn’t play Thursday, in order to rest his legs.
Meanwhile, Melo came out on a mission. A night after he was temporarily knocked unconscious for a few moments at Oklahoma City, he came out Thursday gunning. For one, Melo knew that if he didn’t get into a groove, it could be tougher to do because of his lingering headaches. Also, he was defended by Ron Artest, who slipped inside Anthony’s jersey in the last matchup, smothering Melo all afternoon in a Lakers win in Los Angeles. But Anthony scored 10 points with three rebounds in the first quarter, and finished with a game-high 31.
With Artest handcuffed at the scorer’s table, Anthony hit the biggest shot of the night via an Anthony Carter transition, crosscourt pass. Melo calmly drained a 3-pointer, tying the game at 92 with 2:40 left.
With 14.1 seconds left and Denver up 97-96, a Lakers pass was lofted toward the left sideline, and it was inconclusive whether Chauncey Billups or Derek Fisher tipped the ball out of bounds. The officials went to the video replay and after a couple of tense minutes, they determined the ball hit Fisher’s fingers. Nuggets ball.
“It was our ball,” a frustrated Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after the game.
Two seconds later, J.R. Smith made one of two free throws, setting up the final shot — and final blocked shot.
“When you’re a great offensive player, everyone’s going to always critique your game, but when (Anthony) wants to play defense, he can play defense,” Nuggets acting coach Adrian Dantley said.
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
