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Anthony, Nuggets cruise past struggling Warriors

Dec 14, 2008 - 5:48 AM By Blake Redabaugh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- After Carmelo Anthony tied an NBA record for most points in a quarter with 33 in Wednesday's win against Minnesota, the Denver Nuggets went with a balanced scoring attack to blow out the Golden State Warriors, 123-105, on Saturday at the Pepsi Center.

Denver, which finished with six players in double figures and were led by Anthony's 27 points and nine rebounds, avenged its only loss of the season to a team with a record below .500.

Golden State defeated Denver, 111-101, on November 5 in Oakland, California, but the Nuggets were without guard Chauncey Billups, who had just been acquired in the blockbuster trade that sent Allen Iverson to Detroit.

"It wasn't a pretty game, but it was a win," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "I think (Anthony) is maturing to the process that winning is more fun that scoring."

Anthony and the Nuggets, who won their third straight, took control of the game from the opening tip with a 13-0 run and never looked back.

The Olympian scored five points during the surge and finished with 10 in the quarter as Denver charged out to a 36-22 first-quarter lead.

"My shots have been falling the last couple of games," Anthony said. "We're winning games, we're playing good, we're having fun, but we still are trying to get better."

"(Carmelo) did everything," said Billups, who finished with 16 points and dished out 11 assists. "He's capable of having big nights and it doesn't take 48 minutes. His patience is great."

Golden State, which lost for the 11th time in its last 13 games, managed to cut Denver's lead to 58-49 after Marco Belinelli's 3-pointer with 2:28 remaining in the second quarter.

The nine-point deficit would be as close as the Warriors would get as Denver took a 65-51 advantage into halftime.

"It was a hard game for us," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We had a lot of guys out there that played hard. We knew it'd be a tough game and it was."

Jamal Crawford led the Warriors with 25 points and rookie Rob Kurz chipped in with 20 on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.

"I just tried to do the things that coach told me to do," Kurz said. "I had a pretty good game but the end result is that was lost and we lost and we didn't play as well as we could have."