Portland, Ore. – The Nuggets showed plenty of fire in erasing a pair of double-figure deficits against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Performing the feat a third time was downright ambitious, but it worked, as they pulled off a 97-94 win Wednesday at the Rose Garden with a high degree of difficulty. Denver (25-19) has won seven straight, and six of seven on the road.
Recovering from a stomach bug that forced him to miss his team’s morning shootaround, coach George Karl must have suffered bouts of indigestion as his team repeatedly let Portland control much of the game. But the Nuggets got stops and made shots when required.
“It’s pretty impressive,” said Karl, who admitted he wasn’t feeling his best after the game. “We had a lot of opportunities to say it wasn’t our night, and we never did.”
Denver led for the first time with just 2:45 left in the game on two Andre Miller free throws, two of his 17 fourth-quarter points. He finished with 21 points and seven assists, while Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 26 points and Kenyon Martin added 21.
Asked to explain the comeback, Miller replied: “Bad defense, easy baskets. I got some wide-open looks. I figured they’ve got some shot-blockers down there that can help out, but Carmelo and Kenyon had it going. so they kind of had them occupied.”
Karl wasn’t much more charitable describing the defense of Portland coach Nate McMillan, his former player.
“We figured out their defense a little bit,” he said. “Andre kept driving it to the rim. I don’t know if they got fooled or got tricked. We got a lot of layups off of it.”
The Nuggets scored on six layups in the final six minutes.
“We preached that you’ve got to stay in front of the player with the ball,” McMillan said. “But not only did our on-the-ball defense break down, but we got no help from the weak side. In fact, our weak-side defensive help was nonexistent.”
The teams traded leads, but Greg Buckner’s 3-pointer, Denver’s first of the night, with 1:13 left gave the visitors the decisive lead.
The Blazers failed to tie on three final chances, with Travis Outlaw’s prayer 3-pointer missing at the buzzer. Zach Randolph paced Portland with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Denver began its comeback trifecta by erasing an 11-point first-half deficit. Down 12 late in the third quarter, the Nuggets did it again. Martin’s fast-break dunk with 37.9 seconds left capped a 14-2 run to end the period that left the game tied at 71.
The Blazers grabbed another 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter before the Nuggets woke up for good.
A Denver team that struggled in close games early this season stands at 8-5 in games decided by four points or less. Already hot, the Nuggets feel even better knowing injured center Marcus Camby should return to their lineup Friday.
“It’s confidence,” Anthony said. “When you’ve got confidence, things fall into place.”
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
