Saturday, December 23, 2006
But it wasn't enough as the Nuggets fell to Sacramento 101-96.
DENVER (AP) -- Allen Iverson's opening-night best wasn't enough to prevent the short-handed Denver Nuggets from losing
Iverson finished with 22 points and 10 assists, watching the first 8:35 from the bench, then playing the rest of the way in Denver's 101-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. But the Nuggets only had eight players, and that was too much even for "The Answer" to overcome.
The newest Nugget gave the kind of gritty, gutty performance that has become his trademark. He played 39 minutes after a whirlwind of a day in which he arrived in Denver in the late afternoon, was whisked to the Pepsi Center, passed his physical, took a few jumpers on the practice court then suited up to be on the floor for tipoff.
But the Kings were better from start to finish. They got 21 points each from John Salmons and Brad Miller and got a win made even bigger given the circumstances -- an all-day travel excursion that put them at the Pepsi Center only 90 minutes before tipoff.
Pulling away
The game was tied at 87 with 3 1/2 minutes left when the Kings started pulling away with six straight points on a pair of baskets by Salmons -- who also had 11 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple-double -- and a layup by Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Iverson, meanwhile, got a standing ovation when he entered the game late in the first quarter. And it was during a 2-minute stretch late in the third quarter that he showed the kind of contribution he can make to this team.
He made a pair of 3-pointers, then created an open 15-footer and also had a sweet pass to Linas Kleiza as part of an 18-10 run that gave the Nuggets a 71-69 lead.
He would have had 20 assists were it not for the struggles of his new teammates, many of them unused to the minutes they played and none of them accustomed to receiving the kind of passes Iverson throws.
Earl Boykins scored 25 points on an 8-for-23 night in which the Nuggets shot 37 percent as a team. Iverson shot 9-for-15, and this was one of the rare nights in the seven-time All-Star's career where it could be said that he really should have attempted more shots.
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