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Billups, Anthony shine as Nuggets top Timberwolves

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:14 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony teamed up to lead the Denver Nuggets to victory.

Billups scored 27 points and Anthony added 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Nuggets to a 106-97 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

Linas Kleiza added 15 points and Anthony Carter had 12 for Denver, which has won seven straight over Minnesota.

Randy Foye scored 25 points and Al Jefferson added 20 for Minnesota. Jefferson added 13 rebounds and rookie Kevin Love had his first career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Denver put the game out of reach in the third quarter by outscoring Minnesota, 27-16. At one point the Timberwolves went 6:29 without scoring, while Billups and Anthony sparked the Nuggets.

"Chauncey came out hot tonight." said Anthony about his new point guard. "I just wanted to try and get some offensive rebounds and get it going a little bit."

Billups was 11-for-11 from the free-throw line, including three in the final minute of the third quarter.

"Chauncey's excellent." Denver forward Kenyon Martin said. "No matter if he's knocking down shots or not He leads us in other areas. Having him knocking down shots in the third quarter was huge."

The Nuggets led 66-63 three minutes into the third quarter and then went on a 14-0 run. Anthony started the burst with a layup and Dahntay Jones capped it with a jumper to make it 80-63.

"We got a lot of steals and the ball just flowed," Denver coach George Karl said. "We got layups. We got open shots. Everybody seemed to be part of the offense and there seemed to be a continuity to it."

Denver led 87-70 with entering the fourth and cruised to the win.

Minnesota was just 6-of-23 from the arc, a product of settling for too many jumpshots according to coach Randy Wittman

"They've got Nene and Martin, their bigs running out on our perimeter guys. You don't want to settle and bail them out with jump shots," Wittman said. "I thought we did that tonight."