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Friday, Feb. 18 7:00pm ET
Nuggets garner a rare road win | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
TORONTO (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets are starting to find their way on the road. Antonio McDyess scored 24 points Friday night as the Nuggets, winners of only 10 of their last 104 road games, beat the Toronto Raptors 107-104. "It's great to get a win on the road. We've had some problems doing that," guard Nick Van Exel said. "We'll take anything we can get on the road. This was a big win for our confidence." The victory was Denver's second in three road games following the All-Star break. The Nuggets beat Minnesota in overtime on Tuesday night to snap a nine-game road losing streak, and dropped a 119-101 decision in Cleveland on Thursday night. "It's a good feeling. We just tried to get off to a good start," said McDyess, who had to ice his left ankle after slightly twisting it. "This is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. We feel like we got a lot of confidence from this." Raef LaFrentz added 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Van Exel had 17 points to help the Nuggets improve to 5-18 on the road. "We have a very young team, we're very up and down," coach Dan Issel said. "We'll have our good nights and our bad nights." Vince Carter led Toronto with 31 points, scoring a franchise-record 27 in the second half. Antonio Davis added 14, and Muggsy Bogues had 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds. "Carter was like night and day," McDyess said. "He came out and played like he was the worst player in the league and then he played like Michael Jordan in the second half." The Raptors, who trailed by as many as 23, fought back in the fourth quarter. "I worked my butt off trying to get us back into the game," Carter said. "We've had slow starts and that's the kind of inconsistency we don't need." Davis had two dunks to make it 82-79 with 4:49 remaining. Carter made an under-the-basket layup with 1:03 left to close the gap to 86-84, but McDyess answered with an off-balance jumper. "Antonio is our main guy. We will win or lose with him," Issel said. "I was nervous when he was limping off the court but he showed his character by coming back and playing." Van Exel, 8-for-8 from the foul line, made six straight free throws in the last 12 seconds to seal the victory. Notes: The Nuggets also blew out the Raptors the last time the teams met, 109-84 in November. ... Haywoode Workman, picked up on waivers by Toronto from Boston last week, made his first start of the season in place of Del Curry. Workman played just four minutes. ... Denver's George McCloud, who sprained his right ankle against Cleveland on Thursday, was not in uniform. ... Raptors reserve Tracy McGrady was 1-for-9 from the field and finished with three points. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Denver Clubhouse Toronto Clubhouse RECAPS Philadelphia 104 Cleveland 75
Denver 95
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