Nuggets Deal Heat Another Defeat

Carmelo Anthony scored a season-high 40 points, including two free throws with 14 seconds left, to help the Denver Nuggets beat Miami, 100-92, Friday night, sending the Heat to its fourth consecutive loss.

Anthony, who was 13 for 30 from the field and 13 for 14 from the free-throw line, finished one point shy of his career high. Marcus Camby had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who opened a six-game trip.

Dwyane Wade had a season-high 37 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat. Miami led by three points with 2:35 remaining but missed its last five shots and lost to the Nuggets for the second time in less than a week. Denver won, 101-99, on its home floor last Saturday night.

Gary Payton had eight points during a 1-minute 34-second stretch of the fourth quarter, including a layup following Wade’s steal to give Miami a 91-88 lead with 2:35 left.

Payton finished with 13 points -- the 1,000th double-digit scoring effort of his career, most among active NBA players.

New Jersey 109, Cleveland 100 -- LeBron James scored 32 points and became the first Cavalier to score 30 or more points in four consecutive games since 1981, but it wasn’t enough as the Cavaliers dropped to 7-2 at home.

Vince Carter scored a season-high 38 to help the Nets win their fourth straight road game.

Dallas 90, Memphis 83 -- The Grizzlies, who trailed by as many as 16 in the second half at Memphis, Tenn., cut the Mavericks’ lead to three on several occasions in the last six minutes, the last time on Damon Stoudamire’s basket with 23 seconds left. But Stoudamire and Eddie Jones missed three-point shots down the stretch.

San Antonio 101, Boston 89 -- The victory over Boston was the host Spurs’ 17th in a row over the Celtics.

Boston’s Orien Greene scored on a fastbreak layup to make it 79-71 with about 10 minutes left. But Tim Duncan then made a jump shot and Nick Van Exel passed to Manu Ginobili for an alley-oop layup, and the Celtics never got closer than 10.

Philadelphia 119, Charlotte 115 -- Allen Iverson scored 43 points and Kyle Korver tied a career high with 26, helping the 76ers end a four-game losing streak. The Bobcats dropped to 1-11 on the road.

Seattle 106, Utah 90 -- The SuperSonics’ win at Salt Lake City was marred by forward Danny Fortson’s ejection in the fourth quarter, when he had to be restrained by teammate Ray Allen, Coach Bob Weiss and assistant Jack Sikma after receiving his second technical foul of the game. At the time, Seattle was leading by 20.

Phoenix 85, New York 81 -- The Suns’ ninth consecutive victory, the most by an NBA team this season and their eighth in a row at home, lifted them into a tie with the Clippers for first place in the Pacific Division, setting up a showdown between the teams tonight at Staples Center.

Portland 98, New Orleans 95 -- Rookie Martell Webster made a go-ahead three-point basket in overtime at Portland, and Ruben Patterson made a fadeaway jumper with 10.5 seconds left for the Trail Blazers, who ended a six-game losing streak.

Detroit 106, Golden State 103 -- Ben Wallace got behind the Warrior defense for a dunk with 5.4 seconds to play at Oakland as the Pistons improved the best start in franchise history to 14-2, surpassing the 13-3 start of the 1990-91 team.

*

As expected, former Purdue coach Gene Keady was hired as an assistant by the Toronto Raptors.