Nuggets Survive Tough Test From T-wolves
Defense Carries Team To 9th Win of the Season in 99-93 Victory
For two and a half quarters, the Nuggets looked more like the team with the 1-8 record coming into the contest. Facing a young and fiery Minnesota Timberwolves squad, the Nuggets failed to get into an offensive rhythm. Combine that with a sluggish start defensively and you have the ingredients for trouble. Of the Nuggets' struggles, none was more evident than that of Allen Iverson, 
who had one of his worst offensive games as a Nugget, going just 2-12 from the field. Allen, who had previously been playing extremely solid this season, didn't even make his first field goal until well into the third quarter. Iverson finished the game with 13 points and 10 assists. Credit the long and pesky Marko Jaric with playing the best defense anyone has been able to muster up on Iverson all season long. Jaric wasn't the only Timberwolf who was showing violent reluctance to submit to the Nuggets home court advantage. Swingmen, Ryan Gomes and Antoine Walker chipped in 18 and 24 points, respectively. It was by far, Antoine Walker's best performance of the season, the often maligned and gravity burdened forward was traded from Miami to Minnesota at the beginning of the season. Al Jefferson, no doubt the centerpiece of the Timberwolves team, had a typically productive game, supplying a double double, 15 points and 14 total rebounds. However the potential laden Jefferson wasn't able to strictly dominate, as he was met with wonderful defensive opposition by Kenyon Martin, who managed his best overall game of the season, going for 18 points (season high), 6 boards and 1 block in just 28 minuets of action. The defense was the turn key for the Nuggets, getting additional bolstering from Anthony Carter and Marcus Camby. Carter, who was making his regular season debut following a hand injury that kept him out of much of training camp, played a significant role off the bench, chipping in 9 points, 3 assists and most notably, 2 key steals in the second half comeback. After the game, George Karl said that he was pleased with Carter's work and credited his leadership and defense as being two of the primary reasons the Nuggets were able to eeek out a win. Karl went on to say that he expects to look for more playing time for anyone who will help get his team running and passing more. With that in mind, expect Carter's role to grow more prominent in the near future. Another vital key to the Nuggets win was their ability to get to the foul line, seemingly at no end, racking up a wobbling 41 free throw attempts compared to just 24 attempts for the Timberwolves. But the old saying is that if you get to the foul line, you better damn sure make them. The Nuggets did that, marking a season high 88% (36-41) from the charity stripe as a team. The Nuggets may have been looking forward to their next game, tonight in Texas versus the struggling Houston Rockets, who have lost five straight games. Regardless of any anticipation on behalf of the Nuggets, credit has to be loaned in favor of the hard-nosed play donated by an overmatched Timberwolves team, who dropped to a league-worst record of 1 win and 9 losses. posted: 11/24/07 07:09:50 MST
