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Anthony, Camby lift Nuggets over Lakers-

Apr 10, 2007 - 6:09 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- In a game with major playoff implications, Marcus Camby made sure someone played defense.Carmelo Anthony scored 33 points and Camby contributed 22rebounds and seven blocked shots as the Denver Nuggets held onfor a 115-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.Camby scored just three points in the game but one was thedeciding free throw with two seconds to play as Denver extendedits winning streak to a season-high six games.The Nuggets (41-36) moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the skiddingLakers (40-38) for the No. 6 playoff spot in the WesternConference. Los Angeles has lost six of eight.Denver blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead but managed toprevail despite scoring just one basket in the final eightminutes."It's the nature of the beast to lose big leads and make gamesclose at the end. It happens every night in the NBA andcollege," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Camby could be anMVP candidate for tonight's game even though he had (three)points."Maurice Evans and Brian Cook hit 3-pointers in a 10-0 run thatput the Lakers ahead, 105-104, with 4:20 left, their first leadsince the first quarter.A basket by Allen Iverson had given Denver a 100-87 lead with9:08 left but Los Angeles scored 18 of the next 22 points to goin front."We went into a zone. What it did for us was stop penetration,"said Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who struggled from the fieldall game. "Up to the point they were able to get penetration.They got to the paint at will."We played hard. The second unit that came in did a good jobexecuting. Cook came in and gave us big minutes. That's thetype of lift that we need."Steve Blake answered with a 3-pointer on the subsequentpossession for the Nuggets, who survived some shaky free-throwshooting down the stretch.Anthony, Iverson, Nene and Camby each missed one free throw inthe final 70 seconds for Denver, which shot just 28 percent(11-of-39) in the second half after connecting on 24-of-39 (61.5percent) in the opening half."First of all we wanted to buckle down," Anthony said. "Andonce they made their run we just wanted to try to keep ourcomposure out there. We knew that they were going to make arun, it wasn't going to be a blowout game. I think that's whatwe did down the stretch."Two free throws by Bryant cut the deficit to 112-111 with 8.3seconds to go but Anthony countered with a pair one secondlater.Bryant missed a tying 3-point attempt with four seconds left andCamby grabbed his 22nd board.Iverson scored 24 points and Linas Kleiza 17 for the Nuggets,who has failed to win six straight games on three previousoccasions this season."The good thing about it is that we've been having leads andthen we've been losing them and been able to still winbasketball games," Iverson said. "The frustrating part about itwould be to lose leads and to lose the game. I think honestlywe can try to fix losing leads."Bryant scored 23 points on 9-of-30 shooting for the Lakers, whowere outrebounded, 49-39. Luke Walton added 19 points and LamarOdom 18."Hopefully we can close out strong and maybe go on a little bitof a run in the playoffs," Odom said. "The way we're playingright now is definitely not the way you want to go into thepostseason."