Anthony’s effort can’t hold off Suns

Steve Nash couldn’t play the second half but he might have made up for it with a halftime pep talk to the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and Carmelo Anthony’s first career triple-double to beat the depleted Nuggets, 113-108, Monday night at Denver in the makeup of a Dec. 20 game postponed by a blizzard.

Amare Stoudemire scored 36 points for Phoenix.

“During the first half they roughed us up, knocked us around and we didn’t stand up to them. Steve had a talk at halftime and we played with a little bit more oomph in the second half,” Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They’ve got some tough guys and we had to stand up to it. We want to play pretty, but pretty wasn’t getting it done tonight.”

Anthony, who had 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, pulled the Nuggets to within three at 109-106 with a three-point play with 13 seconds left.

But Shawn Marion and Raja Bell each sank two free throws in the final 12 seconds to seal the win for Phoenix, which had lost two of three after winning 17 straight.

Nash aggravated his right shoulder injury in the first half and sat out after halftime, finishing with nine points and seven assists in 17 minutes.

The Nuggets were without Allen Iverson (ankle) and Marcus Camby (groin).

Washington 118, Seattle 108 -- Caron Butler scored a career-high 38 points to help the Wizards overcome Gilbert Arenas’ off night and hand the SuperSonics their franchise-record 15th consecutive road loss.

Arenas had 16 points on four-for-14 shooting. Ray Allen led Seattle with 29 points.

Utah 100, Chicago 95 -- Mehmet Okur scored 12 of the Jazz’s final 14 points at Salt Lake City to help Utah win the season series with the Bulls for the first time in five years.

Okur finished with 20 points, scoring 12 straight despite playing with five fouls through most of the fourth quarter. Kirk Hinrich had 26 points for Chicago, which lost despite making 37 of 47 free throws to Utah’s 20 of 31.

Golden State 113, Indiana 98 -- Booed throughout the game, Stephen Jackson scored a season-high 36 points against his former team in a victory at Indianapolis.

Jackson was part of the eight-player trade between the teams on Jan. 17.

Jermaine O’Neal led the Pacers with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Houston 105, Minnesota 77 -- Tracy McGrady scored 16 of his 32 points in the third quarter to lead the Rockets at Houston.

Kevin Garnett had 18 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for Minnesota, which lost its fourth in a row and fell to 2-6 under interim Coach Randy Wittman.

Miami 113, Charlotte 93 -- Dwyane Wade scored 27 points and Shaquille O’Neal added 22 in his best scoring performance since returning from knee surgery in the Heat’s victory at Miami.

Raymond Felton scored 20 points for Charlotte.

Sacramento 105, New Orleans 99 -- Ron Artest scored 20 points and tied a career high with nine assists and the host Kings won their third in a row despite not making a field goal in the final 5:48.

Chris Paul had 24 points for the Hornets, who lost for the 11th straight time at Arco Arena. They haven’t won there since Jan. 12, 1997.

Philadelphia 100, New Jersey 98 -- Andre Iguodala had 23 points, 15 assists, and seven rebounds at Philadelphia to help hand the Nets their second overtime loss in two days.

Vince Carter had 23 points for the Nets, who lost at the overtime buzzer to Atlanta on Sunday.