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| Allen Iverson 35pts clutch game winner vs Timberwolves 07/08 |
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The conversation was short and to the point.
Carmelo Anthony saddled up to Allen Iverson
late in the fourth quarter and told him they
needed to put an end to this game.
Iverson nodded his head and then took over,
leading the Nuggets to a 111-108 victory over
the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
The Nuggets point guard finished with 35
points, including a fade-away jumper and two
free throws in the final 30 seconds that
helped secure the win.
"He came up big for us," said Anthony, who
finished with 26 points despite having the
flu. "He hit some big shots."
Iverson gave the Nuggets a 109-108 lead with
his jumper with 29 seconds left. Antoine
Walker took a jumper with 10.9 seconds, but
it was too strong and bounced off a pack of
players and out of bounds. The officials
ruled it was last touched by Minnesota.
The call had the Timberwolves, who fell to
1-20 on the road this season, steamed after
the game.
"I clearly saw it go off both of the Nuggets
players," Walker said. "I just wished the
referees would get together and make sure
they made the right call. I let the ball go
out because I figured it was out on them."
On the subsequent inbounds play, Iverson was
fouled by Marko Jaric, hitting both free
throws.
But Minnesota coach Randy Wittman took issue
with that, thinking that Iverson traveled
before the foul.
"Iverson traveled. Traveled. Flat out," said
Wittman, whose team has now lost 16 straight
road games since a win at New Orleans on Nov.
26. "No ifs or could have been. Flat out,
right in front of the referee."
Wittman was also upset by the discrepancy in
free throws as Denver had 43 attempts (making
35) while the Timberwolves shot just 15
(hitting 12).
"All they had to do was yell tonight, which
they did a good job of, and they get free
throws," Wittman said. "We had guys dunking
the ball, getting smacked. I guess I have to
teach our guys to yell. I guess that's the
factor."
Nuggets coach George Karl doesn't care how
the Nuggets won, he was just happy they did.
"I feel like a thief tonight," said Karl,
whose team finished 4-0 against Minnesota
this season. "We weren't the better team, but
we won. I'm happy we don't have to play them
again. If we did, we would probably lose."
Al Jefferson had 20 points and 16 rebounds,
his 29th double-double of the season. He's
second in the league behind Orlando's Dwight
Howard, who picked up his 37th double-double
of the season against Portland on Saturday
night.
Rashad McCants continued to torment the
Nuggets, finishing with 23 points. He had a
career-high 34 points on Jan. 4 against
Denver.
"I'm disappointed in the way that it ended
because we fought the whole 48 minutes,"
McCants said. "It's on us when we lose
because of a lack of effort and a lack of
energy, but who is it on when we are ahead
all game and a couple of calls go a different
way and the game's over? That's tough."
Iverson didn't think the Nuggets played all
that well in improving to 17-5 at the Pepsi
Center this season. He was not pleased about
the team giving up 60 points in the first
half.
"We could have played a lot better
defensively," he said.
Still, he won't quibble too much with a
victory.
"It was ugly, but we still got the win,"
Iverson said after the Nuggets improved to
9-3 when he scores 35 or more. "That's the
only thing that mattered. We can work on all
the negative things we did in the game. We
can get into practice and work on those
things and watch film, but I think we'd be
feeling a lot worse if we didn't get the
win."
Game notes
Nuggets F Kenyon Martin missed his third
straight game with a staph infection. ...
Karl said Saturday the team expected all the
medical tests on Nene to be in by early next
week. Nene had a testicular tumor removed by
doctors on Monday. ... Minnesota F Ryan Gomes
finished with 20 points. ... Nuggets C Marcus
Camby had with 12 points and 13 rebounds, his
14th double-double of the season.
Tags : allen iverson kobe bryant lebron james wade o'neal jordan kidd pierce carter anthony marbury mcgrady nba mix ad |
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Affichage : 12763
Durée : 512 s |
| Toronto Raptors vs Minnesota Timberwolves Feb.10/08 |
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he Toronto Raptors learned their lesson about
overlooking so-called lesser teams.
Two nights after allowing the last-place Los
Angeles Clippers to rally and win in Toronto,
the Raptors clearly didn't overlook the
Minnesota Timberwolves.
Andrea Bargnani scored 16 points and Jose
Calderon had 15 points and 10 assists for his
second consecutive double-double to help the
Raptors beat the Wolves 105-82 on Sunday
night.
``We can't just show up and expect to win,''
all-star Chris Bosh said. ``Sometimes you
look at some teams' records and you just
think you are going to show up and get
crowned the winner. It doesn't work like
that.''
With five Raptors in double figures and their
top two point guards combining for 23
assists, Toronto was a model of offensive
efficiency. The Raptors drained the life out
of the Wolves and their fans with a
perimeter-oriented offence _ their swishes
amplified through the building by the
backboard microphone.
``(Friday) was a tough game,'' Bargnani said.
``We played good almost the whole game, then
lost at the end on very bad luck. We did a
good job to stay focused as they came back
today.''
Calderon _ who's had at least 10 assists in
five of his last six games _ and T.J. Ford
combined for more assists than the
Timberwolves as a whole. Bosh added 14 points
for the Raptors, and Ford had seven points
and 13 assists, his highest totals since
returning to the lineup from injury Feb. 4.
``We just tried to get everyone involved,''
said Calderon, who has 19 double-doubles this
season. ``We just tried to find the wide open
guys and not force it. ... Everybody made the
extra pass, that's how we beat this team
tonight.''
As in Friday's loss, the Raptors built an
early lead before allowing the Wolves to pull
even in the second quarter. This time,
though, Toronto responded with timely buckets
and aggressive defence.
Antoine Walker's three-pointer with 1:18 to
play in the second quarter tied it at 45. But
Calderon answered with two threes to swing
the momentum that Toronto carried into the
next half.
``Calderon knocking down shots like that is a
big momentum changer for them,'' Corey Brewer
said. ``They just kept adding it; kept
getting momentum and knocking shots down.''
Al Jefferson scored 18 points for Minnesota,
which has played well as of late despite
owning the league's second-worst record.
Jefferson entered the game averaging 30.2
points and 15 rebounds in his last six games
in Minneapolis. But Toronto threw multiple
defenders at Minnesota's big man, and the
Wolves offence sputtered two nights after
taking league-leading Boston down to the
final seconds. Jefferson and Marko Jaric were
13-for-22 from the floor, but the rest of the
Wolves went 19-for-56.
``I didn't see this coming,'' Wolves coach
Randy Wittman said. ``I thought our guys
would respond after even a tough loss like
that.''
The Raptors shot just over 50 per cent from
the floor. They have shot at least 50 per
cent in their last four wins since Jan. 25.
In their three losses, they've shot under 44
per cent.
After trading big runs in the first half,
Toronto established control in the third
quarter, outscoring Minnesota 20-8 to build a
comfortable lead that the Wolves never
threatened the rest of the way.
Notes: Timberwolves G Rashad McCants left in
the second quarter with a sprained right
ankle and is day-to-day. ... Toronto is 12-2
when shooting better than 50 per cent. ...
The Raptors have won seven consecutive games
against Minnesota dating back to 2005,
representing their longest current win streak
against an opponent. ... Former Timberwolves
C Rasho Nesterovic scored eight points for
Toronto. Nesterovic, who Minnesota drafted
with the 17th pick in the 1998 draft, will
play a back-to-back against his other former
team _ San Antonio _ on Monday.
Tags : Toronto Raptors vs Minnesota Timberwolves Feb.10/08 |
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Affichage : 3653
Durée : 358 s |
| Allen Iverson 33pts Highlight vs Timberwolves NBA 07/08 |
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Allen Iverson broke into song, Linas Kleiza
joked with Anthony Carter, and two other
players were discussing underwear styles.
Yes, the Denver locker room was a happy place
on Friday night. And it might stay that way
for a while if the Nuggets keep playing like
this.
Iverson scored 33 points, Carmelo Anthony
added 26 and the Nuggets beat the Minnesota
Timberwolves 118-107.
The Nuggets showed little hangover affect
from Thursday night's victory over the
defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Denver
led 12-0 before the game was three minutes
old and took a 61-52 lead into halftime.
"The season has games you're supposed to win
and should win and all that stuff," Nuggets
coach George Karl said. "But what it comes
down to is they're all difficult. I think
this was a very good win for us."
Minnesota has lost a season-worst seven
straight and is off to the worst start in
franchise history at 4-28. Reserve Rashad
McCants led the Timberwolves with a
career-high 34 points, and Al Jefferson had
24 points and 15 rebounds.
"We played hard but we just gave up too many
easy points," Wolves guard Marko Jaric said.
"Fast breaks, alley-oops, lobs, they
definitely cost us. We did play hard but it's
hard to win when you allow that many easy
points."
Carter, a former Minnesota guard and one of
the stars of Thursday's victory, hit his
first four shots and finished with a
season-high 11 assists and 16 points on
7-for-9 shooting. The veteran point guard
ignited Denver's fast start by pushing the
ball up the court and was a big reason the
Nuggets outscored Minnesota 24-4 on the fast
break.
"We all know that Minnesota is struggling
right now," Carter said. "We wanted to come
out with the same intensity and energy that
we did against San Antonio. The win last
night wouldn't have meant anything if we
didn't come in here and win."
Denver went inside often, finishing with 64
points in the paint. Still, the Wolves
managed to cut the deficit to six with three
minutes left in the fourth.
But consecutive baskets from Iverson, who had
11 points in the final quarter, squashed any
hopes for a Wolves comeback.
"When you're not winning games, things tend
to go wrong at the end of games," Iverson
said. "We were just fortunate that they
couldn't make the plays at the end of the
game."
Looking for some offense to complement
Jefferson, Minnesota coach Randy Wittman
started Jaric and Sebastian Telfair in the
backcourt. The duo struggled, shooting a
combined 5-for-20, but McCants provided a
spark off the bench.
The third-year guard totaled just 15 points
on 6-for-19 shooting in his three previous
games before looking sharp on Friday.
"He came out and he was playing aggressive
tonight," Wittman said. "He had his motor
going, playing at a higher energy level. That
has to be a constant. I'm not talking about
just the points, I'm talking about the effort
and the energy."
Kenyon Martin, who recently returned from an
injury and is being worked back into the
rotation, finished with 11 points for Denver
and looked sharp during a stretch in the
third quarter where he scored seven points.
Kleiza added 17 off the bench.
"The thing with everyone healthy on our team
is that we have a lot of versatility, a lot
of different ways we can play," Karl said. "I
think right now we are just starting to feel
who we can become and what we can become.
Hopefully we will keep a mental focus of
getting better every night and winning the
games and if we lose, making sure that teams
beat us."
Ryan Gomes had his third straight solid game
for Minnesota, finishing with 15 points.
Game notes
Anthony notched his 1,000th career assist and
became the sixth-leading scorer in Nuggets
history. ... Carter had 10 of his assists by
halftime. ... Wolves injured guard Randy Foye
will have his knee re-evaluated on Monday.
... Jefferson celebrated his 23rd birthday on
Friday.
Tags : allen iverson kobe bryant lebron james wade o'neal jordan kidd pierce carter anthony marbury mcgrady nba mix ad |
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Affichage : 14179
Durée : 218 s |
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