Midway through the fourth quarter Allen Iverson unlaced his white and light blue sneakers and found a child in the stands to send home with a little gift.
Wednesday night was that easy, and record-setting, for Iverson and the Denver Nuggets.
Iverson scored 31 points, and the Nuggets were nearly flawless, scoring the most points in the NBA this season in a 138-96 rout of the Seattle SuperSonics
"It was fun to watch," Denver coach George Karl said. "It was fun to see everyone play well."
Denver easily snapped its three-game losing streak, with a large amount of its points coming on uncontested dunks and layups. Toss in 9-for-17 shooting on 3-pointers with all those easy baskets at the rim, and the Nuggets set a franchise record by shooting 67.0 percent.
The previous franchise mark was set 30 years ago, when the Nuggets shot 66.7 percent against New Jersey early in the 1978 season. Denver also bettered the 66.2 percent shooting of the Lakers earlier this season, the previous best in the league.
The highest scoring game before Wednesday night came against Denver, when the Suns scored 137.
"I've been in the league 12 years and I've been playing a long time. I don't know if we've been this hot before, but it was pretty special," Iverson said. "It was fun."
Playing a tired Seattle team certainly helped the Nuggets. The Sonics were finishing off a back-to-back, having played at Golden State a night earlier and offered little resistance at the defensive end.
With Denver trying to chase down a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference, games against teams like lowly Seattle are now must-wins. The Nuggets are a half game behind Golden State for eighth in the West.
"It's crazy," Iverson said of the West. "We've got to concentrate on us and not on anybody else."
Perhaps the brief losing streak and falling out of a playoff spot is what the Nuggets needed to refocus. Karl noticed how sharp his team was during shootaround on Wednesday morning, and it certainly carried over.
Kenyon Martin made 11 of 14 shots and scored 23 points, including a trio of dunks in the third quarter alone. Carmelo Anthony added 16 points and played just 30 minutes. Iverson made 13 of 18 shots and was done early in the fourth quarter. Karl, who missed Monday's loss to Detroit with the flu, got an easy welcome back to the bench, watching the fourth quarter instead of coaching.
"They know they are capable of doing this more often and probably need to do it more often," Karl said.
Mickael Gelabale continued his strong play for Seattle, scoring 16 points. Rookie Kevin Durant continued to struggle with his shot, making just 4 of 17 attempts and scored 16 points.
Denver jumped out quickly, using a 15-4 run midway through the first quarter to take a 27-13 lead on Martin's powerful dunk over Seattle's Nick Collison.
That run was the first of three major first-half spurts for the Nuggets, who shot 62 percent in the half and led 64-45 at halftime.
Iverson capped an 8-0 run early in the second quarter, by crossing over between his legs four times on Collison, then darting into a lane for a soft floater. Linas Kleiza added 12 points in just 14 minutes in the first half and J.R. Smith capped the half with a falling down 3-pointer with less than a second left in the half. Both Smith and Kleiza finished with 15.
"If no one is on the floor, it's hard to shoot the percentage they shot," Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "We didn't defend at all."
The Nuggets lead only grew in the third quarter. Anthony went to the bench for good late in the quarter and Iverson capped his night with a fast-break, no-look drop pass to a trailing Martin for an easy layup and a 100-75 Denver lead after three quarters.
"We've been up numerous times ... and teams can come back to beat you. But tonight we stepped on them and didn't let them get back up," Denver's Marcus Camby said.
Karl picked up his 862nd win, two shy of Jack Ramsay for 10th on the NBA's all-time coaching wins list.
Game notes
Seattle G Earl Watson out again with an illness. Carlesimo was unsure if Watson would be available to play Friday night when Seattle hosts Miami. ... Denver was without F Eduardo Najera, who remained in Denver for personal reasons. ... Seattle G Luke Ridnour didn't play in the second half after experiencing tightness in his right hamstring.
「nba g league jersey」的推薦目錄:
nba g league jersey 在 pennyccw Youtube 的精選貼文
Allen Iverson took plenty of shots at his former team, before, during and after the game. It didn't add up to a win, though.
Kyle Korver scored 26 points to help the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets 108-97 Tuesday night in Iverson's first game against his former team.
It was weird to see him wearing a white jersey and we're wearing black," Korver said. "I said to one of our coaches that it is so weird to see him on the other side. It wasn't really a good feeling at all. He's a great player and he meant a lot to Philadelphia."
Iverson scored 30 points on 10-of-24 shooting before getting tossed for his second technical with 1:44 remaining. Afterward, he said the loss disappointed him because he feels the Nuggets are the better team.
Iverson's best shots, however, came before tip-off when he again ripped the team that traded him to Denver over the holidays, repeating his contention that he should have had more say in the Sixers' style.
Iverson also saved a parting shot for official Steve Javie, who ejected him.
"I thought I got fouled on that play, and I said I thought that he was calling the game personal, and he threw me out," Iverson said. "His fuse is real short anyway, and I should have known that I couldn't say anything anyway. It's been something personal with me and him since I got in the league. This was just the perfect game for him to try and make me look bad."
Actually, Iverson didn't need much help in that regard as he was slow to get going, hitting just two of nine shots and committing three of his game-high seven turnovers in the first quarter.
"I thought he was a little excited with the turnovers early in the first half and then not being able to make shots, not only he but everybody," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "That got Philadelphia their legs, their confidence."
Ironically, Iverson found himself crediting the Sixers for their game plan.
"I couldn't get a rhythm in the beginning of the game. When I found it and got into a little groove, it was too late," Iverson said. "If anybody knows what I can do, they know, and they ran some people at me. They used the zone, and it was effective."
The Sixers, who had lost 14 of 16 road games and 19 of their last 23 overall, scored 100 points for the first time in 16 games and improved to 4-4 since the trade that sent Joe Smith and Andre Miller to Philadelphia, along with two first-round draft picks in 2007, for Iverson.
Miller had 17 points and 10 assists against his former team and Smith scored 12 points.
"This was all business," Smith said.
Ditto for Miller.
"I got a lump in my throat when the crowd reacted" with applause during introductions, Miller said. "Other than that, it was all business for me."
Karl always counted Miller among his favorite pupils and said he "kind of knew Andre was going to have a great game. He's going to make some guys on that team a lot better. I can see he and Korver already have a connection."
Iverson doesn't have that yet in Denver, where he's lost four of six and has yet to play with NBA scoring leader Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, the league's top scoring tandem before their suspensions for slugging it out with the New York Knicks last month.
The Sixers, who led by 19 in the second quarter before the Nuggets rallied to tie it at 52 at halftime, led 86-73 after three quarters.
Iverson's seven straight points brought Denver to 86-80 but Steven Hunter's dunk followed by three free throws by Korver -- one on Iverson's first technical -- restored Philadelphia's double-digit lead.
Rookie Yakhouba Diawara was the only bright spot for Denver, scoring a season-best 23 points on the heels of an 0-for-11 shooting performance against Dallas.
After the morning shootaround, Iverson said he felt a player of his stature and tenure should have been listened to when he criticized the Sixers' style of play last month, a condemnation that led to his departure from Philadelphia after 10 tumultuous seasons.
"When you're losing basketball games, 12 of 14, 18 of 20 basketball games, you should listen to somebody because something obviously isn't working," he said.
Iverson said he was still bitter with the way Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks and team owner Billy King handled his complaints that led to his departure from Philadelphia.
"Honestly I hope it goes away, but every time we play the Sixers, I know it is going to come back," Iverson said. "I just want to be a Denver Nugget and not dwell on things that happened in Philadelphia. I owe it to my teammates to just play basketball. I was frustrated tonight because I didn't play as well as I can play."
Game notes
Iverson won't get to face the Sixers in Philadelphia this season because the Nuggets made their annual trip there before the trade. ... Nuggets G Julius Hodge played the final minute, his first action since being shot in a drive-by last April.