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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
HOUSTON (AP) -- With two seconds to play, Nick Van Exel almost undid all he had done in the second half.
Van Exel scored 17 of his 26 points after halftime Saturday night to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Houston Rockets 102-100. But at the end of the game, Van Exel turned the ball over to Houston's Cuttino Mobley, who took a 12-foot jumper as time expired.
The shot missed.
"I told (Van Exel) that if that shot had gone in, he'd better
run out the back of the gym and not come back," Denver coach Dan
Issel said with a laugh. "We got lucky there. But Nick was the
reason why we won the game. He was terrific in the fourth
quarter."
Van Exel was elated that Mobley's shot bounced out.
"I tried to dribble it out. And I dribbled it out all right,"
Van Exel said. Mobley's shot "scared me half to death. I didn't
know if I should foul him or just let him play it out. Basically, I
went one way and the ball went the other. It was not a very good
demonstration."
Steve Francis led the Rockets with 26 points, 21 in the second
half. He left with a sprained ankle with 5:10 to play, and returned
about 2½ minutes later after having it taped.
Francis didn't score after his injury.
"I just wasn't like I was at the start of the game," he said. "If you sprain your ankle, it takes a little off of your game. Hopefully, they'll let me practice Monday so I can play next week."
Said Van Exel: "It was me and him down the stretch. In fact, we
talked about that on the court. We traded some big baskets in the
fourth quarter. It was unfortunate that he got hurt but we'll take
it.
"I knew he was going to try to go to the basket (at the end)
because he's so quick. After he hurt his ankle, he wasn't quite as
quick as he normally is. He wasn't as explosive."
The Nuggets have now beaten San Antonio and Houston on the road
in back-to-back games less than a week after the team was thrown
into turmoil over a proposed boycott against Issel.
"These are two big wins when we needed two big wins. It kept our season from going south," Issel said. "Tonight's game was important. When it's all said and done it could come down to us and them for the playoff spot."
Antonio McDyess added 17 points and 20 rebounds as Denver ended
the Rockets' three-game winning streak. Voshon Lenard had 19 points
and Raef LaFrentz 14.
Cuttino Mobley had 20 points, Maurice Taylor 16 and Kenny Thomas
12 for Houston.
Denver led 33-21 after one quarter as Van Exel had seven points
and McDyess six points and seven rebounds.
Lenard had 14, McDyess 11 and LaFrentz 10 by the half as the
Rockets never got closer than eight points. Denver led 56-44 at the
intermission.
Led by Francis' six points, Houston made a 13-2 run in the
middle of the third quarter to close the gap to 64-60 with 6:05
left in the period.
The Rockets then went on an 8-1 string, six of them by Taylor,
to forge their first lead at 71-70 with 1:07 to play. The teams
were tied at 76 at the end of the period as Francis had 11
third-quarter points.
Houston went ahead 85-82 on a 3-pointer by Walt Williams with 9:17 left. They stretched it to 89-85 on Francis' dunk at 6:40.
But five straight points by Van Exel tied it 89-89 with 5:52 remaining.
Game notes
Kelvin Cato was activated from the injured list for the
game. He has been out since Nov. 9 with a left ankle sprain ...
Houston's Carlos Rogers was placed on the injured list with a left knee strain. He had missed the past four games. ... Denver's Tarik Abdul-Wahad missed his third straight game with the flu.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Denver Clubhouse
Houston Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 89
Atlanta 83
Charlotte 99
Boston 87
Cleveland 99
Utah 92
Minnesota 113
Indiana 110
Philadelphia 99
Chicago 91
Denver 102
Houston 100
San Antonio 90
Phoenix 82
Miami 93
Golden State 85
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site
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