TORONTO - Forward Carmelo Anthony said Thursday he'd "rather lose by 100 points" than the way his Nuggets did that night at the buzzer.

On Friday night, it looked for a while as if they might lose by 100.

The Nuggets missed their first 15 shots, fell behind 12-0 and were humiliated 121-94 by the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.

"Hell, yeah, it's embarrassing," Nuggets guard J.R. Smith said. "Nobody wants to get beat like that, especially in the first half being down by darn near 40 points."

The previous night, the Nuggets had suffered a heartbreaking 109-108 loss at Chicago on a last-second tip by Tyrus Thomas. After the game, coach George Karl anticipated his Nuggets would "go out and kick somebody's butt" Friday.

Uh, not exactly.

The Raptors took a 36-15 lead after the first quarter while shooting 70 percent.

It got worse.

Toronto led 72-43 at halftime, the most points Denver has allowed in a half this season.

It got worse.

The Raptors led by as many as 38 in the third quarter.

Finally, Toronto called off the dogs. And the Nuggets (34-33), who lost their second straight after a five-game winning streak, were able to get to 25 points in the fourth quarter.

"I'll give them credit," Karl said. "They knew that (Thursday's) game could have taken some mental energy out of us and they came out (and) attacked us."

Meanwhile, the Nuggets couldn't have hit Lake Ontario while standing on the pier. They didn't score until Anthony hit a driving layup with 7:26 left in the first quarter.

It didn't get much better as the Nuggets were 2-for-22 from the floor at one point. Denver stars Anthony and Allen Iverson finished a combined 6-for-27 for 24 points.

"They played great," said Anthony, whose 10 points were the fewest he has scored since getting two Nov. 28, 2005, against New Jersey, when he played only 1 1/2 minutes because of a sprained ankle. "We missed shots. They hit shots. It was just one of those nights."

It was one of those nights when Toronto forward Jorge Garbajosa reached his career high in the first half, when he scored 21 of his 22 points. Morris Peterson led the Raptors (38-31) with 23 points.

The Nuggets got 20 points each off the bench from Linas Kleiza and Smith. Not that Karl was impressed with Smith, saying "that was bad shots going in" during garbage time.

There was three quarters of garbage time. And things got chippy with 7:18 left in the fourth when Toronto center Rasho Nesterovic was called for a flagrant foul on Denver's Reggie Evans, who said he was "extremely" angry.

"It was no basketball foul," said Evans, who started at power forward, with Nene moving over to replace center Marcus Camby, out because of back spasms. "He had his fist balled up. That let me know he did it on purpose. He pretty much came out of nowhere (before hitting Evans in the lip). It definitely hurts."

Nesterovic denied he did it on purpose. Still, he said Evans is a "little bit dirty."

The Raptors were displeased with contact Evans made with Raptors star Chris Bosh in the third quarter. Bosh suffered a minor sprained right ankle and was done for the game.

Bosh said Evans "stepped into my space." Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said he'd "never seen a guy block a shot with his foot."

Evans denied any wrongdoing, saying, "I know deep down inside I ain't doing anything but hooping."

Evans did grab 15 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. But it must be said the Nuggets made sure there were plenty of rebounds to be had.

The Nuggets shot 37.9 percent. The Raptors fired away at a 57 percent clip, including 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from three- point range.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think our defense (would be) as good as it was," Mitchell said.

As for the Nuggets, it was a 48- minute nightmare.

ETC.: The Nuggets lost forward Eduardo Najera in the second quarter when he inadvertently was kicked and suffered a left lower-tibia contusion. Athletic trainer Jim Gillen is hopeful Najera and Camby, whose streak of 17 straight games ended because of the back injury suffered Thursday, can play Sunday at Cleveland. "I'm hopeful," Camby said. "It feels better." . . . After being suspended from the Jan. 19 game, Anthony meets up Sunday with LeBron James, fellow star from the 2003 draft. "Any time you get an opportunity to play against a good friend and a great competitor, it is going to be fun," James said. Anthony said it's going to be a "very enthused game," but much of his concern is trying to stop Denver's two-game losing streak.

		FG	FT	Reb
DENVER	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Anthony	32:10	3-15	3-3	1-2	2	1	10
Nene	29:41	0-6	3-4	3-7	1	3	3
Evans	19:48	0-4	2-6	7-15	1	3	2
Blake	38:54	7-12	0-0	0-3	4	0	15
Iverson	32:39	3-12	8-8	1-1	3	1	14
Kleiza	29:05	7-17	2-2	2-7	0	3	20
Smith	25:47	9-15	0-0	3-5	6	1	20
Najera	5:58	1-1	0-0	0-2	0	1	2
Diawara	14:30	1-2	2-2	0-0	1	1	4
Sampson	7:18	1-1	0-2	0-2	0	0	2
Johnson	4:10	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	2
Totals	240	33-87	20-27	17-44	18	14	94

Percentages - FG .379, FT .741. Three-point goals - 8-20, .400 (Kleiza 4-8, Smith 2-5, Blake 1-1, Anthony 1-2, Johnson 0-1, Iverson 0-3). Team rebounds - 7. Team turnovers - 15 (19 pts.). Blocked shots - None. Turnovers - 14 (Anthony 4, Kleiza 3, Iverson 3, Najera, Johnson, Blake, Nene). Steals - 5 (Anthony 2, Kleiza, Evans, Blake). Technicals - None.

		FG	FT	Reb
TORONTO	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Garbajosa	40:54	6-11	5-6	1-9	0	2	22
Bosh	26:23	7-11	0-0	0-5	4	3	14
Nesterovic	26:10	4-6	1-1	0-4	1	3	9
Dixon	17:13	5-10	0-0	1-5	2	2	11
Ford	27:06	6-10	2-2	0-3	14	2	14
Peterson	30:47	8-13	1-1	0-3	0	2	23
Graham	26:44	4-6	0-0	1-5	2	2	8
Calderon	18:18	4-7	0-0	1-1	6	2	8
Humphries	17:03	3-6	1-1	3-6	1	3	7
Slokar	4:10	1-4	1-1	0-0	0	1	3
DMartin	2:36	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0
Sow	2:36	1-2	0-0	2-2	0	0	2
Totals	240	49-86	11-12	9-44	31	22	121

Percentages - FG .570, FT .917. Three-point goals - 12-23, .522 (Peterson 6-10, Garbajosa 5-9, Dixon 1-3, Slokar 0-1). Team rebounds - 4. Team turnovers - 14 (14 pts.). Blocked shots - 9 (Nesterovic 5, Bosh 2, Humphries 2). Turnovers - 13 (Bosh 2, Calderon 2, Peterson 2, Nesterovic 2, Graham, Humphries, Ford, Slokar, Dixon). Steals - 8 (Ford 3, Calderon, Graham, Peterson, Garbajosa, Dixon). Technicals - None. Flagrant fouls - Nesterovic, 7:18 fourth.

Denver ......15	28	21	30	-	94
Toronto ......36	36	23	26	-	121

A - 20,120 (19,800). T - 2:06. Officials - Jess Kersey, Mike Callahan, Pat Fraher.

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com Raptors 121, Nuggets 94

Back to Top