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Nuggets use late surge to down Celtics

Feb 25, 2011 - 9:14 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - The Denver Nuggets captured their second straight win without Carmelo Anthony, knocking off the shorthanded Boston Celtics, 89-75, on Thursday after finishing the game with a 16-0 run.

Kenyon Martin, despite battling the flu and going to the locker room for an IV, scored 18 points to lead the way for Denver. Trade piece Wilson Chandler added 16 points off the bench in his first game with the Nuggets.

Martin buried a three-pointer in the final seconds to punctuate the game- ending run that gave the Nuggets their third straight victory overall.

"It's all about the win, man. Bottom line," said Martin. "If I would have did what I did and we would have lost, it wouldn't have mattered. It's about us getting [wins], it's not about personal accolades."

Paul Pierce scored 17 points to lead the Celtics, who dressed just nine players after making several deals at the trade deadline. Kevin Garnett added 14 points in the loss.

Boston pulled off a four-player deal with Oklahoma City before the game, acquiring forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic from the Thunder for center Kendrick Perkins and guard Nate Robinson.

It was just one of three swaps the busy Celtics pulled off. They also picked up two future second-round draft picks in separate deals with Sacramento and Cleveland, sending swingman Marquis Daniels to the Kings and rookie big men Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to the Cavaliers.

All the wheeling and dealing left the Celtics shorthanded for the second tilt of their four-game road trip.

"At the end of the day, we still have four All Stars," said Pierce, "so we always feel like we have a chance."

It was a similar position to the one the Nuggets found themselves in Tuesday, when they exploded for a 120-107 victory over Memphis while dressing only eight players in the wake of the Anthony trade with New York.

That 13-player, three-team deal -- Denver also lost veteran point guard Chauncey Billups in the trade -- netted the Nuggets five new teammates. They got Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov from the Knicks and Kosta Koufos from Minnesota.

Gallinari started at forward and scored two points, Felton had four points off the bench and Mozgov and Koufos both sat out.

"Great game, great win," Gallinari tweeted afterward.

The Celtics didn't score in the last 6:05 of the game after Pierce drained a three-pointer to give them a 75-73 lead.

Chandler hit a three to kickstart Denver's big run, Martin followed with a three-point play and Arron Afflalo hit a baseline floater and a fast break layup after that.

Pierce tried to drag Afflalo down on the play, but failed, and Afflalo knocked down a free throw to make it 84-75. The rest of the run belonged to Martin, who followed with a jumper and his last three-pointer for the final margin.

Game Notes

Boston led 23-18 after the first quarter, but Denver pulled ahead 37-36 at halftime. The Nuggets then carried a 61-60 lead into the fourth in a game that was close until the final run...The Celtics also received a future first-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers in their deal with Oklahoma City, reported to be for the 2012 draft...Boston was coming off a 22-point win at Golden State Tuesday in its first game after the All-Star break.