Nuggets 97, Knicks 95
DENVER -- Forward Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 27 points but missed a tying jumper with 2.1 seconds left and the Denver Nuggets beat the New York Knicks 97-95 on Friday night.
Guard Ty Lawson had 22 points and eight assists and guard Randy Foye had 17 for the Nuggets, who are winners of five straight.
Anthony, a member of the Nuggets for 7 1/2 seasons, was held to five points and one field goal in the fourth quarter. Center Andrea Bargnani had 22 for the Knicks, who are on their longest losing streak in four seasons.
Anthony received a mix of boos and cheers when New York's starters were introduced. The boos continued every time he touched the ball, and the crowd relished a missed alley-oop early in the first quarter.
The boos weren't as strong as the game progressed but they were still there when Lawson drove by him and was fouled midway through the third quarter.
The Knicks (3-12) expected to be a title contender when they traded for Anthony three seasons ago but they haven't made it past the second round of the playoffs.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, have successfully meshed the talent they received in the trade with the Knicks. They won a franchise record 57 games last year and have won five straight to recover from an 0-3 start.
They built on their winning streak despite not playing as well as they did in beating Dallas and Minnesota on the road earlier this week.
They appeared to have survived a New York surge that made it a two-point game with 4:17 left. After Anthony missed a tying jumper, forward Wilson Chandler drained a 3-pointer and Foye, who had 17 points, hit a corner 3-pointer with 1:43 to make it a nine-point lead.
Guard Raymond Felton's 3-pointer with and guard Ian Shumpert's layup with 19.7 seconds left made it 96-95. Lawson hit 1 of 2 free throws, setting up the final sequence.
Anthony backed down Foye but missed a turnaround jumper and time expired.
The Nuggets led by 10 after the first quarter and stretched it to as many as 13 in the second before the Knicks got within six at halftime.
Anthony struggled from the field in the first half, missing five of his first seven shots before finishing with 11 points at intermission.
The Nuggets played most of the second half without forward Kenneth Faried. He left the game in the third with a right quadriceps contusion.
NOTES: Nine of the 24 active players in the game have played for both teams -- five on the Nuggets and four on the Knicks. ... The Nuggets didn't hold a morning shoot-around despite not playing Thursday. Instead, coach Brian Shaw decided to have the players come in at 3:30 p.m. local time for a walkthrough. "We had been on the road. We came back to town just for one game and we're going back out again, so I wanted to give our guys as much rest as possible," Shaw said. ... The Knicks' last eight-game losing streak was Feb. 5-23, 2010. They won 29 games that season. ... The Nuggets entered Friday 2-0 against the Eastern Conference.
