Smith’s 4th quarter helps Nuggets top Celtics
Denver Nuggets recovered from blowing an early 20-point lead to beat the Boston Celtics 114-105 Sunday. J.R. Smith scored 16 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
The rest of the time like Chauncey Billups had 26 points and Carmelo Anthony had 23 for the Nuggets, who avoided back-to-back losses for the first time since late December with the victory over the NBA’s top road team.
As for Boston, Ray Allen had 25 points and Kevin Garnett,Rajon Rondo and Marquis Daniels added 15 points each for the Celtics, who lost for the first time in their last four road games. They remain an NBA-best 20-10 away from home. Boston was behind 20 points in the last part of the first quarter, but Marquis Daniels made a lay up following a three-point play by Ray Allen that made the score 66-66 with just under 5 minutes to play in the third. The Nuggets scored 16 of the next 24 points, finished by a Kenyon Martin’s rim-shaking dunk to take an 82-73 lead into the fourth quarter. Boston managed to get back within 107-97. Allen scored 13 of his points in the second quarter, which includes a 3-pointer that lessen Denver’s advantage to 44-35 midway through the period.
The Celtics broke off further with a 5-0 burst in the final 1:07 of the second punctuated by Garnett shaking free in the lane for a dunk.
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