Nuggets escaped rally of Clippers 106-102Mutombo's defense helped Nuggets to stop the Clippers. Dikembe blocks layup of Malik Sealy and Brent Barry.
Los Angeles -- There's trouble in LA, big one. The Clippers are now 0-6, while the Lakers are 1-5.
Saddled with turnovers and struggling with his shot, Mahmoud Abdul-rauf stayed aggressive.
It worked out quite well.
Abdul-rauf scored 8 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and Dale Ellis had 23 points, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 106-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
"Just seeing what the defense was giving me. I was forcing it a little bit in the first half," Abdul-rauf said. "Not letting the game come to me. I tried to open up the floor a little bit by passing it to my teammates for shot on the underneath, then finally finding attack space and knocking down shots."
Brent Barry had 24 points and five steals for the Clippers, who earned their sixth straight loss. Terry Dehere added 17 points.
Dale Ellis's clutch shots helped Nuggets take the lead back open a 85-84 lead with 6:17 to play.
Clippers were down by 16 points in the 3rd quarter when Abdul-rauf made a corner three to give Nuggets the biggest lead of 16 points.
But Brent Barry single handedly bring the Clippers back, three three-pointers, several steals and layups that gave Clippers run. They finally got the lead after Lamond Murray made a jumper with 6:17 left in the 4th.
Erik Piatkowski missed a jumper with 10.6 seconds to play, giving the Nuggets increase the gap, Bryan Stith sunk the free throws to make it 104-99. A desperate long pass by Vaught turn the ball over forcing the Clippers to fould again. Barry made a late three with 0.3 seconds remaining.
"Anytime you can win on the road it's a great win, but obviously we have to do much better than that," Nuggets coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "We have to be smarter down the stretch."
Nuggets had 11 blocks in the game, led by Bryant Stith with 5 blocks, of which on Dehere's shot, Dikembe Mutomdo had 3 blocks plus a double-double, 10 points and 11 rebounds. Mutombo blocked a floater of Barry with 1:40 that could have gave the Clippers the lead.
The Nuggets only made 2 of their first 10 shots of 1st quarter to be behind 23-16, with Vaught and Brian Williams scoring 5 points each in that run. But Nuggets' bench came to play led by MaClean, Rose and Reggie Williams.
"We came out (in the third) and I think Barry scored 15 points in six minutes," Clippers coach Bill Fitch said. "There's no scheme for that, you just have to be more locked into the game."
Abdul-rauf's 3 at the second-quarter buzzer gave the Nuggets their largest lead of the half at 55-45.
Lamond Murray still started but struggled and had five points and four rebounds. Murray had been dealing with a strained groin.