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Friday, Dec. 10 7:30pm ET
Mason makes the most of more PT | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CHARLOTTE (AP) -- Anthony Mason had no complaints about playing time Friday night. Mason had 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 44 minutes as the Charlotte Hornets beat the Denver Nuggets 106-99. Mason stepped to the forefront with starting big men Elden Campbell and Derrick Coleman out with the flu, and Bobby Phills on the bench for the fifth straight game with a pulled left hamstring. "I just want to be involved," said Mason, whose agent says has considered demanding a trade because of what he considered a diminished role with the Hornets. "Right now, all I can say is that when I get the opportunity, I make the best of it. "Every time you get the opportunities and you make the most of it, you're making a statement." Hornets coach Paul Silas was impressed with Mason's performance in the team's fourth straight victory, Charlotte's longest winning streak of the season. "Everybody had to step it up, but I can't say enough about Mase," Silas said. "He stepped it up and controlled the game. He was close to a triple double and played lots of minutes." Mason wasn't the only Hornet to compensate for the absence of the three key players. Brad Miller scored 17 points and David Wesley added 14, as the Hornets won their eighth straight over Denver. Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel led the Nuggets with 20 points each. Antonio McDyess added 14 points and 13 rebounds. Van Exel was held to two points in the first half but scored 16 in the third quarter, including four 3-pointers, as the Nuggets trimmed a 14-point halftime deficit to 80-77. Van Exel accounted for 11 of Denver's last 13 points in the period. Early in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets twice cut Charlotte's advantage to one point, the last time at 84-83 on an alley-oop to McDyess. The Nuggets twice cut Charlotte's advantage to one point in the fourth quarter, but the Hornets ran off nine straight points, one coming on a technical foul against Van Exel, to expand the lead to 93-83 with 6:02 left. Charlotte streaked to a 20-point first-quarter lead behind 13 points from Mason. His three-point play off a post move made it 26-6 with 3:21 left in the quarter. Trailing 33-16 at the end of the period, Denver opened the second period with a 22-8 run keyed by six points from Chauncey Billups and five each from George McCloud and James Posey. A three-point play by LaFrentz narrowed the Hornets' lead to 41-38 with 5:09 left in the half. With the help of two 3-pointers from Wesley, Charlotte then mounted a 13-2 run that enlarged the advantage to 54-40 and led 60-46 at halftime. Mason and Miller each had 13 points at the half to pace the Hornets. Billups led Denver with eight. "We dug ourselves a big hole with that 20-point deficit early in the game," Denver coach Dan Issel said. "We tried to plow our way back but came up a little short. We had some good opportunities, but we made too many mistakes at crucial times. "We just weren't aggressive enough on the offensive end. It's a shame we blew this game, since they were without three of their key players."
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Denver Clubhouse Charlotte Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 100 Houston 96
Charlotte 106
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