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93

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91
[DENVER, Jan. 20] – With less than 2 seconds left
Carmelo Anthony received the ball and his team down by two to the Utah Jazz, and held the game in his hands. He went up, and watched his shot sail over the hands of defender
Andrei Kirilenko… but clank, and after another missed tip-in by center
Marcus Camby, the game was over and Anthony was left to think about what he could have done and how he would love to have that shot back again.
Today’s game was just not the Nuggets day, as they fell behind by double-digits and had to claw their way back every quarter. What made it more frustrating was that the Jazz were not even playing their starters, thus giving the bench more than half of the game. The Jazz’s
Wang Zhizhi was a surprise off the bench with 14 points, including 3-3 from beyond the arc. Sophomore
Darko Milicic was another spark, putting in 8 points while grabbing a team high 7 boards and mustering 3 blocks. Other players to score double digits were Kirilenko, who led the game with 20, and
Gordon Giricek and
Deron Williams, each with 10.
The scoring on the other side was very balanced, with every Nuggets starter scoring double-digits;
Marcus Camby had the only double-double of the game with 12 points and 14 rebounds,
Andre Miller came close with 14 points and 9 assists.
Near the end of the game the Nuggets turned on the pressure and forced several key turnovers, one important one was after
Kenyon Martin’s airball, in which guard Lenard grabbed the ball from Deron Williams and drained a three that drew the team within 3. However in the end things did not work out and the Jazz still manage to remain the only team in the NBA with single digit loss; however they are only 3.5 games ahead of the pack now.
“What can I say? We are grateful for the win and again we showed that sometimes we let teams get back into it, we need to stop that. We’ve got Cleveland tomorrow, and they remember that game we had before, and we can’t let them do the same thing that Denver did to us, which was kill us with their cutting and swinging during the comeback,” said player of the game Andrei Kirilenko.
Marcus Camby: 1
Andrei Kirilenko: 1
Vashon Lenard: 1
Kenyon Martin: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Nene: 1
Mehmet Okur: 1
Yuta Tabuse: 1
Miscellaneous: 1
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