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Lewis scores 33 points; Sonics edge Nuggets

Mar 29, 2007 - 5:20 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- After a big fourth quarter in his last game, Rashard Lewis put the Seattle SuperSonics on his back again.

Lewis scored 33 points and hauled in 10 rebounds as the SuperSonics posted a 100-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Nick Collison had 16 points and collected 13 rebounds and Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkins each added 12 points for Seattle, which has won three straight road games for the first time since November 10-13.

After tallying 21 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter to help the Sonics rally from a 25-point deficit in a 114-106 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, Lewis scored 13 in the final period vs. the Nuggets.

"The win felt good," Lewis said. "When I'm knocking the outside shots down that means the defense has to push up on me a little bit closer and then I can penetrate to the hole. I tried to draw fouls and get layups."

Lewis connected on 11-of-21 shots from the field, including 3-of-8 from the arc.

"Rashard has been amazing," Sonics guard Earl Watson said. "I found myself just watching him at times tonight. In the fourth quarter he was dominating. He was attacking the basket and getting rebounds, he was making plays and hitting big shots."

Seattle also played aggressively on defense, especially when guarding Denver All-Star Allen Iverson.

"I thought our defense was awful good," Sonics coach Bob Hill said. "Iverson was a bit out of rhythm but Earl did a good job staying with him and at least getting his shots contested."

"When you play a guy like Iverson, he's so good, he's the guy you looked up to growing up," Watson said. "You have to be a fan of him. I was just lucky I caught him on a bad night."

With the Nuggets trailing, 99-95, with under a minute remaining, Linas Kleiza made two free throws with 45 seconds left to cut Denver's deficit to two. However after Kleiza missed a 3-pointer from the left corner with four ticks left, Lewis made the first of two from the line with two seconds remaining to put Seattle up 100-97.

Nuggets guard J.R. Smith missed a desperation 3-pointer from above the top of the key to drop Denver (35-35), which is 2 1/2 games behind the idle Los Angeles Lakers (38-33)for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.

"I thought our team played soft defense, did not pass and had too many turnovers," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I was also extremely disappointed early in the game with how Lewis took it to us. I think he had about 13 points in the first quarter."

The Nuggets are also just 1 1/2 games ahead of the L.A. Clippers (34-37) in the West.

"Anytime you let a team shoot 66 percent from the field in the first half and 64 percent from three, it's going to always be a battle," Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony said. "We didn't have it tonight. You can't have games like that, especially on your home court."

Anthony scored 28 points and Nene added 17 and 13 rebounds for Denver, which shot 41 percent (36-of-88).