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'Melo delivers for Nuggets, sinks Bulls

Nov 27, 2010 - 7:00 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Carmelo Anthony made a jumper as time expired to give the Denver Nuggets a 98-97 victory over the Chicago Bulls from Pepsi Center.

Anthony ended with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Nuggets, who have won three in a row. Nene tallied 18 points and seven rebounds, while Ty Lawson finished with 17 points for the victors.

C.J. Watson poured in a season-high 33 points for the Bulls, who fell to 3-3 on a season-long seven-game road trip. Luol Deng added 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Joakim Noah tallied 17 points and 16 boards in defeat.

Kyle Korver's three-pointer capped a small 7-0 burst to give Chicago an 85-82 edge with 6:05 remaining.

Trailing by three, 91-88, with 4:17 to play, Denver ripped off six straight points to take the lead. Lawson capped the flurry with a layup to make it a 94-91 game with 2:10 left.

Watson scored six consecutive points to give the Bulls a 97-94 lead with 30.3 seconds to go. Anthony made two free throws at the other end to make it a one- point game.

John Lucas III, who was signed by Chicago as a free agent earlier in the day, was sent to the charity stripe with 12.9 ticks remaining. He missed both free throws and Denver grabbed the rebound.

Anthony missed a fadeaway jumper at the other end. However, Chicago knocked the ball out of bounds with 4.0 seconds left. The ball went to Anthony, who drilled the game-winning shot.

"Luol played some good D at the end," Anthony said. "I've got to take my hat off to him. But once I got a good look at the rim and just a little bit of space, I just raised up and shot."

Deng said he thought he contested the shot well, and that a double-team wasn't necessary.

"We were fine," Deng said. "He was catching it at the three-point line. He's all the way away from the basket. We stopped him the play before, we just couldn't come up with the ball. He just hit a tough shot."

The Nuggets scored the first 11 points of the game and took a 24-7 lead on Arron Afflalo's trey with 5:33 left. The Bulls, though, ended the quarter on a 13-1 run to cut the gap to 25-20 after 12 minutes.

Denver outscored Chicago, 23-18, in the second stanza to take a 48-38 margin into the locker room.

The Nuggets scored the first eight points of the third to build a 56-38 margin. The Bulls stormed back with an impressive 29-12 burst, which Watson capped with a trey for a 68-67 game with 1:56 left.

Denver took a 76-73 lead into the fourth.

Game Notes

The home team has won nine of the last 10 meetings in the series...Denver, which is 6-1 at home, started a five-game homestand on Friday...Chicago guard Derrick Rose (neck spasms) missed the game.