Nuggets rout the James-less Miami Heat 130-102
Carmelo Anthony's days in Denver might be numbered, but on Thursday night against the star studded Miami Heat, he gave the Nuggets a sign of what they’ll be missing once he’s gone.
The prolific All-Star scored 21 points, four assists and five rebounds - and combined with six other Denver players in double figures - to inflict one of the heaviest defeats the Miami Heat have suffered all season.
Miami paid the price of preserving their star forward LeBron James, who suffered an ankle sprain while playing against the Los Angeles Clippers last night. With one pivot of their Big Three sitting on the sidelines, the Heat simply weren't the same squad.
Along with James went the hustle, leadership, fervour and a 25.4-point scoring average. That meant that the Heat failed to stop a six-match losing streak in Denver, succumbing to 130-102 blow-out loss.
Reserve J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 28 points and seven rebounds. He did most of his scoring from downtown, scoring 8-of-14. Nene contributed 17 points, Aaron Afflalo had 14 and Ty Lawson finished with 13. Meanwhile, Al Harrington and Melvin Ely had
10 apiece for Denver, who won their second straight game. They beat the Phoenix Sun by 34 points two nights ago.
In LeBron’s absence, all of Miami’s hopes were resting on a big night from Dwayne Wade, but a robust Nuggets defence kept him at bay. Wade only managed 16 points on a 7-of-19 shooting from the field, while Chris Bosh scored 24 points for Miami, who have
lost two in a row for the first time since dropping three straight in late November 2010.
The match started evenly, and gradually turned into a point fest for the home-team, as the Heat failed to live up to their offensive reputation. An uptight Nuggets defence was complemented by some cold-shooting from the Heat, as Denver stretched a three-point
first quarter lead into a 17 point advantage by half time.
That was just a sign of things to come.
The Nuggets offence completely took over the game in the third quarter. Anthony, Afflalo, Nene and Kenyon Martin all hit the ground running as they set the Pepsi Centre ablaze with some of the most scorching offensive action witnessed all season. Anthony
in particular was at the top of his game, scoring 13 points in a third quarter extravaganza that saw the Nuggets outscore the Heat 38-25, to carry a thirty-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
There was no coming back for the Heat after that, as they succumbed to a 130-102 loss.
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