The Rockets handled the Nuggets with relative ease, outlasting the hosts 108-103 at the Pepsi Center in a library-like atmosphere from fans that never were given a reason to consistently cheer.
Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, who tied his career high with 50 points, made a double-double of it with 11 rebounds as well, but the Nuggets could not overcome the loss of Nene, who sat due to illness and Chauncey Billups, who left the game in the second quarter with a strained left knee and did not return.
Sharpshooting Houston guard Kevin Martin pretty much provided the knockout punch himself in the third quarter, where the Rockets took a two-point halftime lead and turned it into a 15-point lead going into the fourth. Martin outscored the entire Nuggets team, 18-16, in the quarter, and all the Rockets had to do was hold on from there for their second-straight road win.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, dropped their second straight home game. It's the first time they've dropped back-to-back home games this season and the just second time they've lost consecutive home games in the past four years.
Ty Lawson had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists as one of just three Nuggets in double figures. Meanwhile, Martin, who had just eight points the last time Houston visited the Nuggets, more than made up for that as he exploded to score 37 points with seven assists and four rebounds.
hmm...maybe he'll go to the Lakers...
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