Iverson leads Nuggets to rout

His 37 points triggered a 122-100 triumph over Cleveland.

DENVER (AP) — Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James were the headliners, but Allen Iverson and J.R. Smith stole the show.

Iverson scored a season-high 37 points and Smith added 29 to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-100 on Monday night.

“They didn’t steal my spotlight,” said Anthony, who had 22 points and nine rebounds. “They did what they were supposed to do. They took advantage of the defense that they threw at us.”

Iverson set the tone early with his sharp shooting. He had 18 points at halftime, when the Nuggets took a 58-43 lead. He came out firing in the second half, scoring 11 points in the first six minutes, including two 3-pointers, to push Denver’s lead to 78-51.

“I got into a rhythm in the second half,” said Iverson, who finished 14-for-20 from the field and added eight assists. “The basket looked like an ocean; I was throwing rocks in. It feels good when you catch a rhythm like that.”

LeBron James led Cleveland with 27 points, but the Nuggets were able to contain the rest of the Cavaliers.

“Even though LeBron had a great game, his great game came from getting fouled,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “We took away what we wanted to take away, him making other people better.”

The Cavaliers struggled offensively. They shot 41.9 percent from the field and were 21-for-38 from the foul line.

“I’m not too disappointed,” James said. “We did a lot of things that we wanted to do differently. We didn’t execute offensively or defensively. I think we tried to do some things right.”

Even though his team was playing its fifth game in seven days, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown said fatigue was not an excuse.

“Denver got off a [four]-game road trip in a short amount of time,” he said. “It wasn’t as if they were sitting here for five days waiting on us.”

The Nuggets (5-3) were coming off a dramatic win in Indiana on Saturday, when they rallied from 25 down to beat the Pacers.