BOX SCORE
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
DENVER (AP) -- One night after his step-back jumper beat
Milwaukee, Manu Ginobili's defense handed the San Antonio Spurs a
113-112 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Ginobili sparked the Spurs to a big
fourth-quarter lead and he drew the foul that negated Carmelo Anthony's
winning basket in San Antonio's escape Thursday night.
"I knew Carmelo was going to attack the
rim," Ginobili said. "We were not going to let him take that open shot.
Antonio (McDyess) made him a driver and I was in the right position.
It's my job to be there and try to draw a charge. When he jumped I knew I
was going to get it because I was right outside the circle.
"I definitely didn't want to make any
doubts for the refs. A guy that explosive, it's hard to stop and pull
up. I knew I was right out of the circle and he got me right in the
chest."
Anthony, who led Denver with 31 points,
thought he had the game-winning play, not Ginobili.
"No, obviously what I think and what
they called are two different things. I thought I made a great play. I
took advantage of how Richard (Jefferson) was guarding, attacked. I
don't think I could've got a better look at it than that," Anthony said.
"It's tough, you know, just going out
there playing as hard as we played out there and to lose the game on
something like that."
The bizarre finish capped a frenetic
finish in which the Nuggets erased a nine-point deficit with 6 minutes
left.
The Spurs led 111-108 with 8 seconds TO
GO when Anthony got behind the defense for a dunk. McDyess' inbounds
pass was deflected by J.R. Smith off Ginobili's head and into the arms
of Anthony, whose basket gave the Nuggets a 112-111 lead with 7.1
seconds left.
Ginobili's running bank shot at 4.2
seconds put the Spurs back on top 113-112.
After a timeout, Anthony got the
inbounds pass from Ty Lawson and drove the lane past Jefferson, but
Ginobili slid over and drew the foul as Anthony's shot fluttered through
the net at the buzzer and the crowd went crazy.
Official Haywoode Workman waved off the
basket for an offensive foul.
Nuggets coach George Karl was
crestfallen over the call.
"It's a play that I think goes either
way a lot," Karl said. "It seemed like the referees, they like to hit us
with tough calls. It was a tough call. Good play. Good basketball. Melo
made a great play. It's close. I've seen it called both ways."
But at the buzzer?
Told that TV analyst Scott Hastings
said he hadn't seen that in his nearly three decades watching NBA
basketball, Karl said, "I'd probably agree with Scott."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said: "I
never even saw it. I just saw Carmelo barreling to the rim and I'm
thinking, 'Oh my god.'"
After a review, the officials put 0.4
seconds back on the clock, and the Spurs inbounded the ball for the win.
It was the second game-winning play in
two nights for Ginobili, who hit a fallaway jumper as time expired
Wednesday, lifting San Antonio over Milwaukee 92-90.
"He's a stud," Popovich said. "He's
been a competitor, he's won championships here and overseas and he's
been MVPs of things. He scored the two free throws down the stretch,
then he scored the winning bucket and then he took the charge. That
pretty much says it all about what he's capable of doing."
San Antonio improved to an NBA-best
22-4 while dropping the Nuggets to just their second loss in 13 home
games.
Tim Duncan had 28 points and Tony
Parker added 24 for the Spurs but it was Ginobili's spurt that sparked
San Antonio.
Averaging 20.2 points, Ginobili had
just three points when he sliced in for a backdoor basket, hit a
step-back basket -- like the one he used to beat Milwaukee -- and then
hit a deep 3-pointer to give the Spurs a 94-88 lead early in the fourth
quarter.
Until the final minute, the highlight
of the game was Smith's dunk over Gary Neal with 0.6 seconds left in the
first quarter. His subsequent free throw gave the Nuggets a 37-28 lead
that marked the most points the Spurs had allowed in any quarter this
season.
Smith took off 11 feet from the basket
and slammed it through the hoop with both hands as he ran into Neal,
sending him to the court. The rim-rattler drew nods of appreciation from
the Nuggets bench and was posted on YouTube within minutes.
Notes: Denver PG Chauncey Billups
(wrist) missed his second straight game. The Nuggets hope he can return
Saturday night against Minnesota. ... Spurs C DeJuan Blair returned from
hyperextending his right knee Wednesday night against Milwaukee to log
14 minutes.
