Iverson scores 44, Karl wins 800th

Allen Iverson helped give Denver Coach George Karl his 800th win, finishing with 44 points and 10 assists in the Nuggets’ 112-98 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Thursday night at Denver.

Karl was handed a Denver jersey with No. 800 on it along with the game ball after beating his former team to become only the 12th coach in NBA history to reach the milestone. He’s 800-555 in 19 seasons.

“I’m just kind of humbled by the opportunity to win 800 games,” Karl said. “When I first started, I thought 250 would be great. I thought 250 and you’d retire into a college job and coach into the sunset.”

Iverson had his highest-scoring game since being acquired by Denver in a trade with Philadelphia on Dec. 19. His season high is 46 against Chicago on Nov. 24.

Earl Boykins added 24 points, and Reggie Evans had a season-high 18 rebounds.

Seattle’s Damien Wilkins matched his career high with 26 points, and Luke Ridnour finished with 16 points for Seattle.

The SuperSonics cut a 13-point third-quarter deficit to three, 79-76, but Denver closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run -- all by Boykins -- to take a 85-76 lead. Denver opened a 16-point lead midway through the fourth and coasted to its fourth win in five games.

Seattle star Ray Allen didn’t make the trip to Denver after his wife gave birth to a boy Wednesday, but may rejoin the team tonight in Minnesota.

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Dallas 101, Phoenix 99 -- Dirk Nowitzki made a 19-foot jumper with 1.3 seconds left and the Mavericks rallied at Dallas for their eighth straight victory. Nowitzki took a pass in the right wing from Jason Terry and made the shot over Shawn Marion.

The Suns had one more chance after a timeout and the inbound pass, but Amare Stoudemire’s shot bounded off the front of the rim as time expired. That ended Phoenix’s eight-game road winning streak, one short of the team record.

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San Antonio 106, Utah 83 -- Tony Parker scored 22 points and Tim Duncan added 20 in the Spurs’ 15th consecutive home victory over the Jazz. Parker scored 12 points in the second quarter as the Spurs turned a one-point lead with 8:27 to go in the half into a 15-point advantage at halftime.