(Denver-CO) The Denver Nuggets can breathe a deep sigh of relief and wear the smile of a thief on their trip back to the Mile High City after stealing a win from the Portland Trailblazers in the great northwest, 97-94. Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 41 points and Chauncey Billups added 22 points and six assists as Denver’s dynamic duo combined to shoot 29-31 from the free-throw line.

With their first possession of the game, the Nuggets went right inside to Nene who made a quick move down the baseline to land Greg Oden with his first foul. It was a very heady plan by the Nuggets to attack Oden right out of the gate, but it was a plan the Nuggets quickly forgot as Nene settled for consecutive jump shots on back-to-back possessions.

Following two minutes of scoreless basketball, the Trailblazers jumped out to an early, 6-0, lead mainly because  the Nuggets missed their first five shots and turned the ball over twice while going scoreless in the first four minutes of the game. Overall, the Nuggets opened up 1-7 from the field before Carmelo Anthony hit a big three with six minutes remaining in the first quarter to bring the Nuggets back in touch.

After picking up the aforementioned quick foul, Greg Oden snared four offensive rebounds in his first eight minutes of burn. This set the tone for the Blazers on the offensive glass and as a team they combined for eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter. The extra opportunities offensively afforded Portland 25 shot attempts in the first quarter compared to just 15 for Denver, but despite that kind of gruesome picture being painted the Nuggets never lost touch of Portland on the scoreboard. And just like last night against the Jazz, the second unit of Chris Andersen, Arron Afflalo, and Ty Lawson were able to provide George Karl sustainability defensively while the Nuggets quietly closed the quarter on a 10-0 run and with the lead, 24-17.

The Nuggets opened up the second quarter in the same kind of funk they did to start the game by going scoreless for the first four minutes of the 2nd while the Blazers ripped off an 11-0 run to take back the lead, 28-24. Portland once again was getting two and three opportunities on the offensive end as a result of the Nuggets being beaten to loose balls and not doing a very sound job of finding a body and boxing out. In fact, the rebounding situation became so dire at one point after Portland got three pointblank attempts on one possession that the Blazers actually had as many offensive rebounds (12) as Denver had in total.

But, once again, the Nuggets hung around despite connecting on just two of their first ten field goals in the quarter and found themselves down by only two, 39-37, with under two minutes remaining in the half. Carmelo Anthony sustained the Nuggets with his free-throw shooting finishing a perfect 9-9 from the line for a total of 20 points in the first half. And in all reality, Denver getting to the free-throw line for 25 attempts and making 19 of those looks was their only saving grace. The Nuggets were getting killed on the offensive glass 12-0, handed out a paltry five combined assists, and received only six points from their bench as the Blazers out shot them 51-27 in field goal attempts (thankfully they made just 16 of those) with their bench giving them 17 big points.

Fortunate to be down by only one, 43-42, entering the second half the Nuggets went back to their original plan of attacking Oden and it paid off early. Greg Oden was tagged with his fourth foul just two minutes into the third quarter prompting Head Coach Nate McMillan to replace him with Joel Pryzbilla. But, to McMillan’s dismay, Pryzbilla picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in a matter of two minutes leaving McMillan no choice but to turn to Juwan Howard with his two seven-footers sitting with serious foul trouble.

It was at this point in the game that Denver should have smelt blood in the water, but conversely it was Brandon Roy who raised the level of his game. Roy scored 16 points, including 14 in the final seven minutes, in the third quarter including a three-point buzzer beater to keep the Nuggets at bay after Denver tied the game at 61 and 62 with under two minutes remaining in the period.

Roy’s last second heave afforded the Blazers a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but Portland’s lead tapered to four points or fewer as both teams traded baskets before Rudy Fernandez’s second three in the fourth quarter put the Nuggets back down by seven with 7:16 remaining in regulation.

Somehow, someway, the Nuggets kept loitering around the Rose Garden and despite Rudy Fernandez scoring 14 of the Blazer’s first 18 points in the quarter Denver tied the game at 85 with 4:28 remaining on Carmelo Anthony’s jumper from the right wing. ‘Melo then made the exact same shot on the next offensive possession for the Nuggets to give them their first lead since early in the second quarter. Anthony then popped another tie at 87 with a pair of free-throws and did it again with another pair of free-throws drawn off a head fake on Andre Miller to give Denver a, 91-89, advantage. The free-throw contest continued with Brandon Roy splitting a pair on the other end, but Carmelo Anthony had the look of a man possessed by the will to win as he once again drew a foul and made good on both attempts from the charity stripe to give Denver a three-point lead with under two minutes to play. Andre Miller then split two attempts on Portland’s next possession before Nene’s diligence on the offensive glass kept the Nuggets in business after he corralled his own first attempt which was blocked by Greg Oden to lay in a sweeping baby hook to extend Denver’s lead to four points.

Nene was then overzealous trying to hit the offensive glass after Brandon Roy was able to convert on a running lay-up to cut the Denver lead down to two, but LaMarcus Aldridge missed yet another critical free-throw to keep the Nuggets up by one with :35 and possession of the ball.

Chauncey Billups ran off the clock and predictably dished off to Carmelo Anthony free-throw line extended on the right elbow. ‘Melo quickly drew a double team and gave the ball right back to Chauncey for a wide-open jumper, but the iron was unkind to Mr. Big Shot and the Blazers grabbed the rebound for the last possession of the game.

The Blazers put the ball in the hands of Brandon Roy for presumably the final shot, but after a solid double-team forced him to pass to Greg Oden in the paint a charitable whistle was blown on Kenyon Martin. The foul was Kenyon’s sixth and put Oden on the stripe for two free-throws. Sam Bowie Oden then missed both free-throws to the Rose Garden's dismay! Carmelo Anthony grabbed the timely rebound on Oden’s second miss and proceeded to ice the game with his 40th and 41st points of the contest and amazingly the Nuggets pulled out a game that in all honestly they should have never even been in!

The Nuggets, who landed in Portland at 4 AM this morning, won, 97-94, in a game where they attempted 20 fewer field goals, surrendered 14 offensive rebounds, handed out just eleven assists, and blocked a measly three shots. In addition, Nene and Kenyon Martin both fouled out and the Nugget bench was outscored by Portland’s 39-14.

With those horrendous statistics the only reason why the Nuggets even had a pulse in this game after the kind of overall performance they showed was Carmelo Anthony. ‘Melo took the game over when the outcome was in the balance by scoring 19 of his game-high 41 points in the fourth quarter including 18-19 from the free-throw line.

Anyone wanna start an MVP conversation?

Go Nuggets!

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