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Nuggets top Celtics to give Karl milestone win

Feb 20, 2013 - 6:31 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Three overtimes weren't needed this time.

Danilo Gallinari had 26 points in the Denver Nuggets' 97-90 win over the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics downed the Nuggets, 118-114, in triple overtime a little over a week ago on Feb. 10

George Karl picked up his 400th win as Nuggets head coach in the triumph.

Ty Lawson added 26 points, six assists and six rebounds for Denver, which snapped its three-game losing streak that came on the heels of a nine-game winning stretch.

"It shows how much we've matured as a team, to come back from the All-Star break and beat a team like that," Lawson said.

Jeff Green netted 20 points off the bench to lead the Celtics, who have dropped two of their last three tilts since winning seven in a row.

"We got stagnant with ball movement," Boston's Paul Pierce said. "A little too much one-on-one."

The Celtics began the fourth on a 9-2 flurry to pull within 80-79 and Avery Bradley's 3-pointer from the right corner tied the game at 84-84 midway through the frame.

Denver, though, countered with a 10-2 push to seize control of the contest. Lawson and Gallinari poured in four points apiece during the stretch as the Nuggets opened up a 94-86 cushion with 2:21 to play.

Boston scored the next four as Green put in a layup and Jason Terry sunk two free throws, but after Kenneth Faried missed two free throws, Kevin Garnett was unable to get his contested layup to drop and Gallinari rebounded the miss

The Celtics took a 22-21 edge after a quarter of play and a 50-49 advantage into the break. But Denver outscored Boston 29-20 in the third to take a 78-70 spread into the final period.

Game Notes

The Nuggets (33-21) had the best record heading into the break without an All- Star representative ... Boston is 0-6 on the road against Western Conference opponents this season ... Andre Iguodala returned from a brief two-game absence for Denver due to a neck injury. Gallinari had missed his two previous tilts as well due to an illness.