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Wednesday, Mar. 1 9:00pm ET
Nets win sixth road game of year | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
DENVER (AP) -- The featured matchup between point guards Stephon Marbury and Nick Van Exel wasn't even close. Marbury won going away. Marbury scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and had eight assists, while Van Exel was practically a no-show, managing only two points on 1-for-9 shooting as the New Jersey Nets beat the Nuggets in Denver for only the fourth time in 27 tries, 94-81 Wednesday night. "He is definitely one of the quickest and most explosive point guards I've ever faced," Van Exel said "I let him do all the attacking and he kept me on the defensive. When you do that, you are going to get your butt kicked." Marbury, who was coming off a 34-point performance at Utah, was careful not to denigrate Van Exel. "I was just playing my game and tonight probably wasn't Nick's night," said Marbury, who scored 11 of his points in the second half as the Nets won their sixth road game of the year. "He's a great point and it's just like that some nights." Keith Van Horn added 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets, who had won only three times in their last 17 road games with the Nuggets. Van Horn was 10-for-20 from the field. "Keith's offense was very good," New Jersey coach Don Casey said. "We got him into too many isolation situations, but he feeds well off the flow." Marbury and Van Horn offset the 22-point performances of Antonio McDyess and George McCloud for the Nuggets, who shot only 33 percent from the field. The Nets took a 69-56 lead into the final quarter, and Marbury hit four of five shots early to give them an 78-60 lead. McCloud, who was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and had 14 points in the last quarter, sank a 3-pointer with 2:15 left to get the Nuggets within 87-76. Tariq Abdul Wahad's layup and free throw with 1:52 to go got Denver as close as 88-78. New Jersey sealed the win with on Lucious Harris' two free throws and Elliott Perry's jump shot in the final 1:47. After leading 50-37 at halftime, Van Horn's two free throws put New Jersey ahead 58-40 early in the third quarter. The Nuggets closed the gap to 59-46 on a driving layup by Bryant Stith with 5:08 left. McDyess, 3-for-9 and six points in the quarter, kept the Nuggets close with two baskets over the next three minutes. Jamie Feick's 15-footer from the baseline and two free throws by former Nugget Johnny Newman in the last 1:31 enabled New Jersey to open a 13-point edge at the end of three quarters. "We lost. We couldn't do it," said Denver coach Dan Issel. "We couldn't shoot the ball, we couldn't defend anybody and we couldn't rebound. We were awful."
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard New Jersey Clubhouse Denver Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 96 Boston 94
New Jersey 94
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