At 23, Nuggets Almost Loss Leaders

An old teammate commiserated with the Denver Nuggets after spending much of Friday night making their lives more miserable.

Antonio McDyess, who escaped Denver in a trade to Phoenix in October, scored a season-high 24 points for the Suns in a 93-77 home-court victory that set up an ignominious game tonight at the Sports Arena.

Denver comes to town to play the Clippers, the last team the Nuggets beat. Since then, Denver has lost 23 games in a row, tying an NBA record for a season set by Vancouver, which had the excuse of doing so in 1995-96, its expansion season.

“I have sympathy for them, but we didn’t want to be the ones they beat,” said McDyess, whose previous best was 23 points Dec. 15 at Chicago. “I came out ready to play, and I was more fired up because it was the Nuggets.

“I think about five guys [on Denver] came up to me and said, ‘It was miserable,’ and that was while we were playing. LaPhonso [Ellis] is really the one down. I don’t know how much different it would be if I was still there, but I really feel for them.”

Denver, 2-38 overall and 0-22 on the road, one away from the all-time record set by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost 24 in a row over two seasons in 1982.

In view is the record for fewest wins (nine) in a season, set by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers.

Chicago 100, New Jersey 98--A controversial goaltending call with 0.5 seconds to play in overtime gave the Bulls a victory at East Rutherford, N.J., in a game Dennis Rodman missed after his first brush with trouble this season.

Rodman was sent back to Chicago by Coach Phil Jackson after missing the team shootaround Friday morning. The Bulls were outrebounded, 54-34, and 22-9 on the offensive end.

SportsChannel reported Rodman was at a New York strip club between midnight and 4 a.m. Friday.

The winning points came on an alley-oop inbound pass from midcourt that was grabbed by Jason Caffey as Net rookie Keith Van Horn scrambled onto the court after a timeout in which Coach John Calipari forgot to designate his substitute.

As Caffey was ready to dunk the ball, Jayson Williams (23 points, 23 rebounds) got a piece of the shot but was called for goaltending.

San Antonio 81, Dallas 75--David Robinson led a balanced attack with 17 points for the Spurs, who won at home for their 19th victory in 22 games.

Miami 102, Orlando 90--Tim Hardaway scored 27 points for the Heat, which won at home to extend the injury-plagued Magic’s longest losing streak in six years to six games.

Boston 89, Atlanta 85--Ron Mercer tipped a jump ball to Antoine Walker, who drove the length of the court for a basket with 31 seconds to play for the winning points at Atlanta.

Philadelphia 98, Portland 87--Derrick Coleman scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for the 76ers, who won at Philadelphia to end the Trail Blazers’ winning streak at four games.

Indiana 106, Utah 102--Rik Smits scored 25 points, including two free throws with 24 seconds to play that put the Pacers ahead to stay after they had overcome a 15-point deficit in the second half at Indianapolis.

Vancouver 88, Golden State 80--Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 26 points, all in the first three quarters, and the Grizzlies pulled away down the stretch to win at Oakland, the Warriors’ 13th consecutive loss.

Golden State is four losses away from the franchise record of 17 losses, set during the 1964-65 season when the team was based in Philadelphia. The Warriors’ next three games are on the road, and their next home game on Jan. 31 is against Chicago.