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'Melo drains game-winner to help Nuggets stun Raptors

The words of Carmelo Anthony after he missed two free throws and a potential game-winner before getting a third chance to lift the Nuggets over the Toronto Raptors. An offensive rebound from Nene led to a Chauncey Billups assist to Anthony, who nailed a jumper as time expired, giving the Nuggets a thrilling 97-96 victory over the Raptors.

"It all started with the two free throws and then we got the ball back out of bounds," Anthony reflected. "I had a chance to end it right before the game-winner. I missed it. Three times is the charm."

The win prevented the Nuggets from dropping four straight and was a huge boost with road games against Orlando and Dallas coming up.

"Somebody up there likes me," said Denver interim coach Adrian Dantley. "That's all I can say."

The shot snapped the hearts of Raptors fans, who watched their team come out with the energy that had been lacking in back-to-back losses of 26 points in their last two home contests. The shot completed a comeback that had the Raptors up 12 with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth.

When a three-point play from Andrea Bargnani put the Raptors up three with 44.4 seconds, Anthony was fouled and missed two free throws. Despite the Raptors owning a 58-38 advantage on the boards for the game, the Nuggets came up with the offensive rebound and Chauncey Billups hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 95-95 with 33.9 seconds.

After Chris Bosh made one of two free throws, Anthony missed his first jumper with 6.9 seconds on the clock and the Nuggets came away with the biggest offensive rebound of the night, feeding Anthony for the game-winner.

"It's disappointing, but down in the end their two clutch players made two great shots," said Raptors coach Jay Triano. "Chauncey's three with a hand right in his face gives them a chance and then the

second look, Carmelo makes a contested two at the buzzer. Their stars made plays. It's tough to swallow, but there is nothing we can do about it."

Anthony finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, Nene scored 20 and grabbed nine rebounds and Billups overcame a 4-for-18 shooting night to finish with 18, none bigger than his final 3-pointer. "That's why he's named big shot," rookie Ty Lawson said. "Because he makes the big shots."

With 12 games remaining and a playoff spot still up for grabs, the Raptors were desperate to get a win and right the ship before heading out on the road for a crucial two-game swing against Miami and Charlotte.

It appeared as though they were on their way when things fell apart for the Nuggets in the third. Despite open looks and transition opportunities, they couldn't make a shot.

"Great looks," Billups said of Denver's looks in the quarter. "Layups, transition passes, 10-foot shots. It was incredible, but we didn't get discouraged, we didn't hang our heads, we just continued to play." After shooting 56 percent in the first half, the Nuggets made just 3-for-21 in the period and were outscored 29-16, trailing 81-72 at the start of the fourth.

"We didn't quit," Dantley said. "Throughout the whole game we didn't do a good job of transition runbacks. We didn't quit and that's the bottom line. Third quarter I just kept telling them don't quit, just hang in there. ... Luckily, the guys didn't quit on me."

The Raptors played without Hedo Turkoglu, who was out with the stomach flu. Sonny Weems started in place of Turkoglu, finishing with 14 against his former team. Bosh led the Raptors with 18 and 12

rebounds, Bargnani added 14 and 15 rebounds and rookie DeMar DeRozan had 15 off the bench for the first time this season.

With his teammates mobbing him as the buzzer sounded, Anthony celebrated. In the locker room

afterward, he said it was, "on to the next," but acknowledged the feeling of finishing off the Raptors on their home floor.

"I think hitting one on the road, you get that much more joy out of it," Anthony said. "That much more satisfaction. You've got 20 thousand people against you and you can make a shot to silence them?" He smiled once more. "That feels good."

Durant lifts Thunder to surprisingly easy win over Lakers

Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers teammates had been cruising along like a well-oiled machine during their seven-game winning streak. They came into Oklahoma City with a 12-game winning streak over the Thunder franchise dating back to the Seattle days.

But Friday night in front soldout and roaring crowd at Ford Center, Kobe and the Lakers (53-19) clanked, clunked and sputtered in their worst performance of the season, while the Thunder (44-27) sizzled in rolling to a shockingly easy 91-75 win that wasn't nearly that close.

The 75 points was L.A.'s lowest output this season.

OKC led by 33 at the end of the third, 80-47, when the Lakers managed just 13 points to begin the second half. They scored just 15 to begin the first half and shot just 39 percent for the game. L.A. even had touble hitting free throws -- going just 15-for-24.

"They have speed and quickness, they beat us to all the loose balls," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "They were just quicker than we were in all areas."

It became such a mismatch that Thunder coach Scott Brooks didn't know what to say to begin his postgame news conference. He sat down, looked around at the gathered reporters and said, "Well," paused looked around a moment more and finally added, "we played good basketball tonight."

Indeed.

It looks like the Thunder's early spring swoon that saw them drop three of four is over. They played well despite losing to San Antonio on Monday night then throttled Houston Wednesday night before drilling the Lakers Friday night.

"We bounce back well, we never get too high after a big win or too low after a disappointing loss," said Brooks. "Our guys like to compete and wanna get better."

The Lakers seemed a little disinterested coming off a big come-from-behind win in San Antonio on Wednesday night.

Bryant didn't score in the third, missing the only shot he took and didn't even play in the fourth. He finished with almost as many turnovers (nine) as points (11) and was just 4-for-11 shooting.

"Thabo [Sefolosha] did a great job on one of the best players in the game," said Brooks. "I couldn't ask for a better defensive game. Thabo has changed the culture of our team with his defense. He sets the tone, he's an inspirational player. Not too many people can do what he does."

Sefolosha, who is gaining more of a reputation around the league for being a defensive stopper,

constantly pestered Bryant with hands in his face and around the ball. Bryant slipped down a couple of times and tripped another time as he turned the ball over.

"Kobe had nine turnovers and you can't do that," Jackson said. "You can't have a game like that and expect to have success especially this late in the season."

"They played very well," a solemn Bryant said after the game. "They executed and did a good job. They did great defensively."

On what if anything this loss might indicate as far as the Lakers are concerned heading toward the playoffs, Bryant had the obvious answer.

"We want to play better. There are things we have to do. I know what we can do. I know what our game really is and so I'm not second guessing it."

Bryant had scored 31, 26 and 40 points in the previous three meetings with the Thunder this season. "Thabo's defense was great," said an admiring Kevin Durant, "Kobe is the best player in the world. Thabo gets us going on defense, he did a great job of fighting Kobe."

The showdown defensive matchup was supposed to be the Lakers' Ron Artest on Durant. Artest almost single-handedly shut down the Spurs' offense Wednesday night. Early in this contest, Artest bothered Durant's shot a little, but the All-Star forward scored 26 to lead all scorers and added eight rebounds. He was 9-for-19 shooting.

Artest was just 1-for-6 for 2 points. The Lakers had only two players in double figures, Lamar Odom with 15 and Kobe's 11.

In additon to Durant's 26, point guard Russell Westbrook broke out of his recent shooting slump, hitting 10-for-13 for 23. Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic added 10 each and Krstic grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Thunder outrebounded L.A. 42-39 and dominated in the paint and on the break -- outscoring the Lakers 44-30 down low and 15-7 on the run.

The Thunder started just the way Brooks had hoped they would -- with a lot of energy and stingy defense. The Lakers seemed to meander around on offense, never getting in sync early, shooting just 30 percent in the first for 15 points.

Oklahoma City, meanwhile, got off to another hot shooting start, hitting 48 percent and scoring 27 in the first.

The Lakers also had trouble with turnovers. They came into the game averaging just 13.5 per game, but had 11 by halftime -- eight of those belonging to Bryant.

The Lakers will continue their road trip in Houston on Saturday night.

"It was a tough game for us but we really don't have to make a huge deal about it," said Lakers center Pau Gasol, who had nine points. "We just have to bounce back tomorrow, put together a good game and move on."

Oklahoma City will stay home to host Portland in another key Western Conference game Sunday night. "We got a good one tonight but now we've gotta get ready for the next one," said Durant in a happy but quiet Thunder locker room. "We have 11 more games left so we have to keep pushing and play our hardest."