Billups has 37, Nuggets edge Warriors in OT
The Associated PressChauncey Billups matched his career high with 37 points, including 10 in overtime, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Golden State Warriors 123-118 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight victory.
Billups made a pair of 3-pointers in overtime and two free throws with 22 seconds left, but Denver wasn't able to shake the limping Warriors until the final minute.
Carmelo Anthony had 23 points, including two clinching free throws with 12.5 seconds left to help the Nuggets (27-14) win for just the second time in nine road games.
Monta Ellis had 39 points and 10 assists, while Corey Maggette added 33 points and nine rebounds for Golden State (12-28), which lost for the fourth time in five games.
The Nuggets have been struggling away from the Pepsi Center and have had even more trouble with some of the NBA's weaker teams. Denver went into the game just 11-8 against teams with a .500 record or lower, a stat that was on the verge of getting worse before Billups took control in overtime.
Billups scored the Nuggets' first eight points of the extra period, then went scoreless for nearly two minutes before he and Anthony each made two free throws in the final 25 seconds to seal the win.
Since returning from a groin injury that sidelined him for eight games, Billups is averaging 26.3. Denver is 5-1 in those games.
The Nuggets needed every bit because Anthony, the NBA's leading scorer, struggled with his shot all night. Anthony went just 7 of 22 from the floor and only had three points in overtime.
Denver, which is just 9-11 on the road this season, maintained its two-game lead over Portland in the Northwest Division.
Both teams had a chance to win in regulation but came up short. Anthony's driving layup attempt was blocked with 3.9 seconds left before Anthony Tolliver, one of three NBA Development League call-ups on Golden State's roster, missed a long jumper at the buzzer. Tolliver also missed a 3-pointer late in the final seconds of overtime.
That Golden State made it close had to surprise coach Don Nelson, whose patchwork lineup nearly needed revamping yet again after Ellis pulled out of the afternoon shootaround complaining of soreness in his left ankle.
Ellis, who injured the same ankle in an offseason mo-ped accident in 2008 one month after signing a $66 million six-year contract, then didn't come out for pregame warmups until seven minutes before the game and took only a handful of shots before lying on the floor and stretching.
Ellis leads the NBA in complete games (9) and was averaging a league-high 42.2 minutes before playing all 53 against Denver.
NOTES: Ellis had eight or more assists for the third straight game, the first time he's done that in his four-year NBA career. ... Maggette has scored at least 32 points in each of his last three games. ... The Warriors signed Cartier Martin to a second 10-day contract earlier in the day.