| 28 March 2009
(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets took care of business against Dirk Nowitzki and a battered Dallas Mavericks club, 103-101. The win gave Denver the four-game sweep of Dallas in the regular season; the first in franchise history. Dallas was without Jason Kidd, who missed his first game as a Maverick with a sore back, and Josh Howard, who missed action with a bum ankle. Tough luck for the Mavs, but that’s how it goes and when you allow Carmelo Anthony to score 43 points you can’t expect much more than a Denver win.
This recap is truly all about Carmelo Anthony. In the first quarter, Carmelo scored twelve points on 5-6 shooting. In the second, he added eight more on another 4-6. After halftime he scored another 13 on 7-8 from the field, including his first three-pointer of the game. And with the chips on the line in the fourth, Carmelo hit his second three, the game-winning lay-up, and another free-throw for good measure to seal victory for the Mile High crew. When you add in his 5-6 from the free-throw line you come up with the sum of 43 points on 18-29 shooting in addition to eleven rebounds. It was an all-around performance of which I’m not too sure can’t be called ‘Melo’s second best individual effort of the year; second only to his scoring 33 points in the third quarter alone setting a new NBA record against the Timberwolves on his way to a season-high 45 in that contest back on December 10th, 2008.
The second player who deserves some major kudos is Chris Andersen. The Bird has been just as intrical a part of this team’s success as anyone else and as of late hasn’t been seeing much love on the road from unfamiliar stat keepers. The box score will tell you the Bird blocked only one shot, but I’m here to tell you once that he blocked at least three - and that was just on one possession. Against the Hornets, Altitude’s Chris Marlowe counted five swats for the Bird, but he was only credited for two. In last night’s game, he was credited with the aforementioned one block, but actually blocked three consecutive shot attempts on one possession, including two dunk attempts, all while having the wind knocked out of him! And as Marlowe has said, “The Bird is the word in Denver.” Even with Nene out you can count on the Bird patrolling the defensive glass, blocking shots, bothering shots, tipping in offensive rebounds, and pretty much ruling the roost for Denver. His final line against the Mavericks reads 30 minutes played, nine rebounds, seven points, THREE blocks, and an assist.
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Now that a couple sash badges have been given out it is time to get down to the business of how this game was won. Denver led by ten entering the fourth quarter. Anthony Carter hit a 23-foot jumper to get the Nuggets started offensively, but after a four and a half minute scoring drought the Mavs had tied things up at 88 apiece after Jose Juan Barea connected on a three with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation. Carmelo countered with a short deuce to give Denver a two point lead prompting Rick Carlisle to call timeout. Out of the break Denver went dry again for another three and a half minutes while falling behind by three, 93-90, with just four minute to play before Anthony Carter bailed out the Nuggets jumper to cut the lead back down to one. Carmelo once again put the Nuggets back on top, 95-93, with his second three of the game, but Dallas wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Barea hit another three to give Dallas the lead, 96-95, but it was a short-lived advantage because twelve seconds later J.R. Smith countered with three of his own in transition to put Denver back up by two.
The contest tied again at 98 all after Jason Terry made good on two free-throws with :58 seconds remaining. Carmelo was fouled by James Singleton on his next shot attempt and cashed in two from the charity stripe to give Denver a two-point lead. But the pesky Barea wasn’t through with his three-point barrage and hit his fifth trey of the game to give Dallas back a one-point lead with :23 remaining in regulation.
With the shot clock off, Denver called timeout and drew up their plan. Everyone in the American Airlines Center knew the ball was going to be in Carmelo’s hands except for the Dallas Mavericks. ‘Melo took the ball right to goal after Chauncey Billups drew a double team by James Singleton and sliced through about the weakest help defense I have ever seen by Dirk Nowitzki for the lay in.
Dallas had one more shot at potentially winning the game, but after Dirk played wet paper bag defense on one end of the floor he hesitated to shoot after popping loose on screen and proceeded to then throw a timid brick that was rebounded and missed again by Antoine Wright before Carmelo corralled the loose ball and put the icing on the cake with another free-throw.
Signed, sealed, and delivered.
The Nuggets sweep the regular season series against the Mavs and continue to roll into the playoffs. Denver has won seven out of their last eight games and currently hold a game and a half lead over the Blazers for the top spot in the Northwest Division with just nine games remaining. And with the win, the Nuggets jumped up from fourth to third in the overall standings of the Western Conference playoff picture.
J.R. Smith poured in 22 points off the bench on a very efficient 9-12 from the field to cancel Jose Juan Barea’s 22 off the bench for Dallas. Dirk finished with 26 points to lead the Mavs, but choked when his team needed their biggest bucket of the game. Jason Terry added his usual 20, but shooting just 35% as a team left the Mavericks too much hill to climb as the Nuggets shot a blistering 56% on the back of Carmelo and J.R.s’ economical performances.
Go Nuggets! 
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