Denver Beats Warriors

The Denver Nuggets record is 18-11, and their in first place in the Northwest division. Beating the Golden State Warriors yesterday, 124-120 helps them stay with the lead.

Allen Iverson said it's never fun playing against the Warriors, because they compete every game.

"No, it's not fun playing them," Iverson said. "I don't know why you all think it would be fun. It's fun for the fans, but it's not fun for the guys trying to defend the way they play. They just keep coming at you all game."

Iverson lead the Nuggets with 39 points, 6 assist, but suffered with 4 turnovers. Iverson said he likes to run, but the Warriors run a little too much. He believes it's fun playing that style, but it's not fun defending it.

"I like to run up and down the court, but they make it outrageous," Iverson said. "They might run even too much for me, especially on the defensive end. It has to be fun to play that style, but to defend it isn't too nice."

Iverson says, Marcus Camby is the most important defense player for the Nuggets, because he has lots of responsibility's. "As he goes, we go," Iverson said. "He takes up so much responsibility, he enables me to be one of the top guys in the league with steals because I can gamble a lot with Marcus back there and not pay for it."

Camby finished with 15 points, and lead with 16 rebounds. Camby believes defense wasn't needed against the Warriors, because both teams were scoring at will.

"I thought this would be a game where you pretty much throw the defense out the door, which was pretty much the case," Camby said. "Both teams were pretty much scoring at will. It came down to whoever made plays down the stretch."

Carmelo Anthony had 30 points, 8 rebounds, and suffered with 5 turnovers. Anthony shot 8-8 from free throws, 0-2 from three point range, and 11-22 from field goals. Linas Kleiza finished with 15 points, and 5 rebounds.

Nene said the Nuggets need to play team basketball, because it'll help them succeed this season. "If we play like that, unselfish, getting the ball to the open man, we'll win a lot of games and we'll go far this season," said Nene.

Nuggets head coach George Karl said the Warriors played wild, and believes it's good for the league. "They're wild and crazy," Karl said. "That's how they play. I like it because I think sometimes the basketball world thinks you can only play one way. There's a lot of ways to play in basketball and Nellie is one of the best at innovating a style that fits his team. We're a little wild and crazy, too."

Stephen Jackson lead with 32 points, and finished with 5 rebounds, and 4 assist. Jackson said he didn't play well, and believes he disappointed his team. "My team relied on me to win tonight and I didn't play well," Jackson said. "Point blank I've got to shoot better. We have to work too hard and I've got to play a lot better and the shots I take I've got to shoot better." Jackson missed an important three pointer to finish the game.

Baron Davis had 29 points, and lead with 13 assist. Andris Biedrins had 14 points, and lead with 12 rebounds. Al Harrington added with 13 points, but was 5-15 from field goals, and 0-4 from three point range.

Monta Ellis finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assist. Warriors head coach Don Nelson said, it's really fun to watch Ellis because he's getting better. "He's just getting better all the time, really fun to watch," Nelson said. "It was a perfect game for him to gain some more maturity and be at the line under pressure."

Nelson said the Warriors couldn't stop the Nuggets two best players, and believes that was the problem. "Obviously we couldn't control their two best players," Nelson said. "When they score 124 points and only have 13 assists, that tells you that they are doing a lot of one-on-one stuff and the greatness of those two players made it very difficult for us."