Denver Nuggets beat Houston Rockets for the second time in two nights – NBA Recap
The Denver Nuggets defeated the Houston Rockets at home 105-102 on Monday night. This was the second of back to back games between the two teams, the first one being played in Denver on Sunday which the Nuggets
won as well.
The Nuggets boosted their position in the Western Conference with the win, displacing the Dallas Mavericks from the 6th place. Arron Afflalo scored a game high 26 points for Denver and dished 5 assists
in the process. Goran Dragic, with 21 points, led the scoring for the Rockets, who have now lost 4 games in a row and slid down to 9th place in the Conference.
It was a high scoring 1st quarter to start the game, with Denver scoring the first points through a 3 pointer by Danilo Gallinari. Houston responded with a 7-2 run and took the lead early in the period,
holding to it throughout. Denver remained close, tying the game at 16 through a dunk by Kenneth Faried with 5:10 left in the quarter. The Rockets then went on a 16-5 run to close the quarter leading 32-21. Denver missed 12 field goal attempts to in the final
5 minutes of the quarter.
The Nuggets, trailing Houston 38-27 within the first three minutes of the 2nd quarter, went on a 9-0 run to cut the Rockets lead to 38-36, and then tied the game at 41 with a layup by Afflalo. Courtney
Lee hit back to back threes for Houston to give them a 51-44 advantage at half time.
Denver closed in on the Rockets lead in the 3rd quarter and a fade away jumper by Afflalo gave the Nuggets a 67-66 lead with 3:49 remaining in the period. Denver closed the third period leading 75-74.
The final quarter was contested neck to neck, with both teams exchanging leads. A layup by Al Harrington with 1:19 remaining in the game gave Denver a 101-98 lead, after Lee had missed a 3 pointer for Houston.
Chandler Parsons connected a jump shot for Houston to bring them back within 1, but a crunch time 3 pointer by Ty Lawson sealed the fate for Houston, giving Denver a 104-100 lead. The Nuggets held on to win 105-102.
Ty Lawson had 25 points and Al Harrington scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Corey Brewer and Gallinari chipped in with 11 points as well for Denver. Goran Dragic and Chandler Parsons both had 21 points
for Houston, while Courtney Lee had 18 points and Luis Scola chipped in with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Nuggets had penetrated at will inside Houston’s defense on Sunday night and Houston had that in mind coming into this game. While excessively worrying about paint penetration, the Rockets allowed Denver open
shots from the perimeter. Denver capitalized, scoring 9 of 18 from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets shot poorly from the foul line, going 20 of 29 for the night, but managed 12 more free throw attempts than Houston. The Rockets were only 27.6% from 3 point range for the game. Houston had 11 blocks
to 4 by Denver, led by Samuel Dalembert who had a season high 7 blocks in the game. Houston matched Denver for points in the paint, scoring 48 and allowing Nuggets 50. But Denver’s three point shooting made the difference at the end of the day.
Houston continues to slide down in the rankings and has been going through a rough patch recently, losing their last 3 games by 4 points or less.
Ryan Anderson notches up a double-double performance as the Orlando Magic defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 113-100-NBA Recap
On Monday night at the Amway Center, Orlando, FL, the Orlando Magic defeated the visiting Philadelphia 76ers with a score of 113-100. This was a second win for the Magic in as many games.
Magic had several key players missing from their line up. Dwight Howard who looks to be out for the remainder of the season with a herniated disk in his back which seems be the constant cause of back spasms he has experiencing.
Another notable person missing out was, Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis who was out with a knee injury he suffered in the win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With their big men absent from the line up, Magic needed their rest of the roster to step up in a major way. Up stepped, Ryan Anderson, Jameer Nelson and Earl Clark, who combined together for 56 points in the game.
All three players recorded double-double figures on the night. Anderson led the way with 26 points and game-high of 16 rebounds. Nelson scored 16 points while also dishing out 13 assists in the game. Clark came off the bench to score 14 points and grab 11
rebounds for the Magic.
Jason Richardson also had a good game with 17 points which included two triples. Quentin Richardson was not far behind as he also came off the bench to add 13 points. Orlando, had 6 players finish the game, scoring in double-figures.
Despite being short handed the Magic crashed the boards throughout the night, out-rebounding the visitors by 46-30. 13 of those 46 came on the offensive glass as the Magic made the most of these second chance opportunities.
Another key factor for the Magic on the night was their shooting from beyond the arc. They shot the ball 61.1% from behind the three point line going 11-18 on the night.
In the opening period, Orlando struggled with their shooting as they connected on only 33.3% of their shots in the first quarter. This resulted in the Sixers getting an early advantage as they led 27-21 after the first period.
Orlando turned things around in the second quarter as they started it off on a 10-2 run to take the lead at 31-29 with 9:38 to go in the half. The scores remained close for most part of the second period, however, at the half way stage, Orlando were able
to get ahead by 6 points.
Midway between the third quarter, Magic were able to extend their lead to double figures with 6:38 remaining. For the remainder of the period, the lead never got below 7 points and by the end of the third, it was back in double figures with Orlando leading,
90-79.
The Sixers did offer resistance in the fourth quarter as they were able to cut the lead down to 6 at one point. However, Orlando laid rest to any chances of a Philadelphia comeback by quickly getting their lead back to double figures. They outscored the
76ers 23-20 in the final quarter to take this one by a margin of 13.
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