The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 100-95 Thursday Night after they re-surged from blowing their 18-point lead.
The Nuggets relied on Carmelo Anthony, who scored 30 points and 15 rebounds; Aaron Afflalo also had a good record by scoring 27 points and nine boards. The Nuggets capitalized on bits and pieces of opportunity they got to beat the Clippers and retook the lead that brought them victory.
Afflalo's two free throws gave Nuggets a 98-95 lead with 11.5 seconds on the clock. The Clippers failed to even the lead as Eric Gordon missed a three-point shot with five seconds to go, finishing with 19 points. Anthony was at hand to capitalize on the rebound and his two free throws clinched Nuggets the victory.
Blake Griffin was the ace player for the Clippers with 24 points and 14 rebounds in what was his fifth game of the pre-season; Chris Kaman added another 23 points for his team but it didn't help his team in clinching victory.
Denver had a lead of 13-3 run when they opened the third quarter and beefed up two-point halftime lead to 70-59 with 8:20 left in the period. They went on to build a margin of 79-61 on Afflalo's two free throws with 4:25 left in the quarter, Nene's fifth foul of the game notwithstanding.
Rasual Butler used two free throws to tie the game at 86 with 5:57 left, and Baron Davis' three-point play evened the lead at 91 with just 3:32 remaining.
