NBA Recap: Nuggets seal 2nd straight victory without Carmelo Anthony
Denver Nuggets progressed to their second straight win without All-Star Anthony, as the newly traded Nuggets lined up against the short handed Boston Celtics Thursday night and handed them a 89-75 loss.
Only nine Boston players dressed up to play the game. The Celtics went into the arena without four former players; Luke Harangody, Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson and Semih Erden. Both the teams were in an equally difficult situation. The Nuggets without
All-Star forward Anthony and floor leader Chauncey Billups, whereas Boston had to endure a loss without their 6’10” tall Perkins. The player got traded to Oklahoma City Thunder for the 24-year-old forward Jeff Green. Teammate Kevin Garnett later described
it as a big loss and said, "Tough day to play basketball. Very tough day to play basketball, to even concentrate. You feel like you lost a family member today. Tough day."
So George Karl finally let out a sigh of relief Thursday night seeing the new inherited players making a well played debut. What else would the coach ask for? Wilson Chandler added 16 points and went 3-for-4 both from the free throw line and the three-pointer
zone. Raymond Felton could only score four points in 27 plus minutes and went nil from the long range and foul line. Danilo Gallinari pulled out two points and grabbed four rebounds in 19 minutes and went 1-for-6 from the field.
Kenyon Martin led all the players with game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Boston shot just 39 per cent from the field and missed 14 3-pointers as well, but summed up a better free throw shooting, going 12-15 from the foul line.
Denver not only outscored Boston in rebounding, 52-38, but also clinched more points from the painted area, going 36-30 in the stat.
Although the Boston Celtics lost but Delonte West was incredible. The player scored 10 points and pulled out two steals for the Celtics in 23 minutes.
Chandler, Gallinari and Felton, the stars who just joined the Nuggets, played a combined 2 for 12 shooting before the break and in doing so took Denver leading the Celtics 37-36. The Nuggets held firmly to the lead and entered the final quarter carrying
a 61-60 lead over the Celtics. Paul Pierce reconciled to help the Celtics and chipped a three-pointer with 6 and a half minutes left to take a 75-73 lead over the opposition. But the rest of the Celtics forgot to score after that. Denver lunged forward taking
a 16-0 run and the Celtics could not score a single point in the final 6:05 minutes of the game. That marked the end of Boston’s story.
It was hard for the Celtics coach Doc Rivers to keep the game going with such a short attendance on the bench so he came up with a new idea. The coach registered Chris Johnson from the league and had him sign a 10-day contract. The player in his best
efforts scored six points, grabbed a rebound and went 2-for-3 from the field. He also notched both the free throws that came his way.
Rivers was quoted as saying, "We had him in camp. So, he'll play tonight. He won't know what he's doing but he'll be out there. He'll be out there early. We needed the body and he can play a little bit. He was playing terrific in the D-League."
Pierce did his best to keep the team floating and scored 17 points in the effort. He also grabbed six rebounds and went 7-for-18 from the field. Garnett scored a double-double in the loss. The 34-year-old power forward added 14 points and pulled out
13 rebounds for the Celtics. ‘Big baby’ Glen Davis took 36 minutes to score 11 points but he also had six rebounds to add.
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