The Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz traded comebacks in the fourth quarter before the least experienced player on either team completed the final rally.

Once Sundiata Gaines let go of his 3-pointer and the buzzer sounded Thursday night, there was no chance for the lead to change again. Utah 97, Cleveland 96.

It was the first career 3-pointer for Gaines, a rookie who was just signed last week to a 10-day contract and was playing only his fifth NBA game.

“He has a little swag in him and believes in himself,” said Carlos Boozer, who fouled out and had to watch Gaines’ winner from the bench. “I tell you what, he made us a believer in him, too.”

LeBron James had led the Cavaliers on a 22-4 run earlier in the fourth quarter and put the Cavs up by six with 32.5 seconds left, but Cleveland couldn’t clinch it from the free-throw line.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Sometimes, this is what it takes.

An embarrassment. A humiliation. Losing to a team so bad it is being compared to the worst squads in NBA history barely a month into the season.


“I would have liked to have come out of this with a win, and I would have said the same exact thing, but I think we did need this,” Chauncey Billups admitted afterward. “I don’t like losing, but I think we needed this.”

It was as if Billups had hopped a time machine and returned to the team he joined a little more than a year ago — a team of individual showmen, a team of one-on-one players, a team that thought it could shoot its way out of any hole, no matter how deep.

And why not? It had been doing it throughout this season’s first month. As if reliving its early run- and-gun days, the Nuggets went into Sunday night’s game second in the NBA in scoring at more than 109 points per game, five more than they averaged a year ago when they became acquainted with the concept of defense.

Click here to read the full article – By Dave Krieger of The Denver Post

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The Denver Nuggets confirmed Wednesday that forward Chris (Birdman) Andersen is day-to-day with moderate patellar tendinitis in his right knee.

Andersen has experienced soreness, so underwent an MRI in Denver.

Dr. Steve Traina said the test revealed no structural damage.

Also, guard Anthony Carter is listed as questionable for the Nuggets’ game Friday night against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of cbc.ca

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Tonight is the fifth game of the Nuggets’ road trip, but Kenyon Martin spoke Monday as if it’s the fifth game of a playoff series.


“I’m going to play, man — no matter how I feel,” said Martin, who sustained a left leg bruise on Friday in Miami. “We lost two games in a row. Bottom line, we’ve got to stop the bleeding. I think my presence on the court will go a long way.”

The power forward left the Miami loss in the second quarter, and he watched Saturday’s loss at Atlanta from the sideline. Barring any setbacks, he will play tonight at Chicago, where the Nuggets (5-2) have lost the past three seasons.

“We’ve got to get back to playing the way we’re capable of playing,” said Martin, who is averaging 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds. “Not playing was so frustrating, man. I put a little bit of that burden on myself.”


Click here to read the full article – By Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post

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Carmelo Anthony scored 19 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and the Denver Nuggets were helped by Portland`s trouble at the free-throw line for a 97-94 victory Thursday night.

Greg Oden missed a pair of free throws with 4.6 seconds left, squandering a chance for Portland to go ahead.

Anthony hit a jumper with 4:26 left to tie it at 85, then added another to give the Nuggets their first lead since the second quarter.

It stayed close with the teams trading free throws. But Portland started to have trouble at the line and Nene hooked a shot and Denver led 95-91.

Brandon Roy`s bank shot narrowed it again, but LaMarcus Aldridge continued the Blazers` free-throw woes by making just one of two.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of dailycamera.com

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George Karl hasn’t seen much to write home about from his team during preseason games, but he’s got plenty to smile about anyway.

We’re talkin’ about practice.

This team is taking the every day sessions with a professional approach Karl has never seen from a Nuggets squad during his tenure. And that has him practically giddy about the possibilities ahead.

“The compliment I give to them is we’ve had more ‘A’ practices in this camp than any camp I’ve had with this team,” said Karl, in his sixth year with the Nuggets. “Practices at times in the past have been hard. They’ve been pulling teeth. There seems to be a professional respect towards the training camp (this year) that ‘Hey we’ve got to get better.’


Click here to read the full article – By Chris Dempsey of denverpost.com

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Andrei Kirilenko will miss the Jazz’s preseason games Thursday and Saturday while traveling to Russia to attend to a family matter, the team said Wednesday.

Kirilenko is expected to rejoin the Jazz for Sunday’s game in Los Angeles. The matter is not health-related and Kirilenko’s absence is excused.

With Kirilenko out, the Jazz could have greater opportunity to experiment with playing Paul Millsap at small forward.

Kirilenko came off the bench in the Jazz’s two most recent preseason games, with Ronnie Brewer and rookie Wesley Matthews starting at the two wing spots.

Click here to read the full article – By Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune

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Carlos Boozer doesn’t expect to be playing for the Utah Jazz this season.

Just two weeks ago, Boozer opted to remain with the Jazz for the final year of his contract. But the two-time All-Star told a Chicago radio station Tuesday he expects the Jazz to trade him. “The Jazz told me they want to go in a different direction and I respect their decision,” Boozer said Tuesday during an interview with WMVP. “We mutually agreed to work out a trade that was beneficial for them and beneficial for my family and me. So with that being said I’m gonna be traded relatively soon or in good time.”

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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The Detroit Pistons have traded reserves Walter Sharpe and Arron Afflalo to the Denver Nuggets for a second round pick. This deal was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The Denver Nuggets could make this move because of the Traded Player Exception worth about $10 million they received from last year’s move of Marcus Camby to the Los Angeles Clippers
for a second round pick. They also owned three other TPEs worth a combined $4 million. Together, Afflalo ($1.1 million) and Sharpe ($0.7 million) will not use much of the exception at all (if they used the large one). Since the TPE can be used partially, the Nuggets still retain over $12 million of TPE to use for future moves.

Click here to read the full article – By Jason Fleming of hoopsworld.com

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Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony frequently uses his signature jab step to catch the defense off guard.

But when Hispanic Business magazine named him to their 100 most influential Hispanics list last year, it was Anthony who was surprised. “I didn’t really expect to be on that list,” said the 24-year-old NBA superstar over the phone from Denver. The reason, he says, is that many of his fans don’t recognize him as Latino.

Click here to read the full article – By Lee Hernández and Collin Orcutt of nydailynews.com

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