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Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 03:28 PM

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Denver (19-17) at Houston (25-15)

Game Info: 8:30 pm EST Sat Jan 20, 2007
TV: ALT, FSSW Add to Calendar
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By DAN BURCH, STATS Writer

The Houston Rockets have a hard time winning without Tracy McGrady. They hope to have their injured All-Star back as they host the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

McGrady missed Wednesday's 100-91 loss to Phoenix with stiffness in his lower back. While he's listed as day-to-day, he expects to be back on the court to face the Nuggets.

"I'm not concerned about my back at all," McGrady said on Wednesday. "It tightened on me last night and we're just taking the precaution to not go out and try to rush back. I have a few days to rest, get some treatment and I'll be back Saturday."

McGrady scored a season-high 45 points in a 109-96 loss to Dallas on Tuesday, but left the game with 2:14 remaining. He's missed parts of the last two seasons dealing with back spasms and currently receives treatment to alleviate his back problems. Wednesday's injury isn't related to those problems, which caused him to miss 35 games last season.

Houston (25-15) is already without center Yao Ming, out since Dec. 23 after breaking a bone under his right knee. Led by McGrady, the Rockets had won nine of 10 in his absence before the back-to-back losses. He was averaging 28.7 points in that span, capped by the performance against Dallas.

Without McGrady, the Rockets haven't been as fortunate, going just 2-6 in his absence this season and 7-28 in 2005-06.

Houston played hard against the Suns, but couldn't pull out a victory and have lost consecutive games to the NBA's two best teams.

"People's roles change," said Rockets point guard Rafer Alston, who matched a career high with 29 points against Phoenix. "You might have a guy we need to set picks and rebound, but now we might need that guy to pump in 10 or 15 points. All of a sudden, you have to readjust your mind-set. You have to be up to the challenge."

Houston beat Denver 90-86 on the road last Friday and has won three straight over the Nuggets. McGrady had only 12 points on 5-for-17 shooting but Shane Battier scored 25 points and Luther Head had 15 off the bench.

The Rockets have won eight of the last 10 meetings at home over Denver.

The Nuggets (19-17) have won consecutive games for the first time this month, beating Portland 109-93 on Sunday, then beating Cleveland 110-99 on Friday.

Marcus Camby had a season-high 26 points and 17 rebounds and Allen Iverson added 25 points for Denver, which welcomes back Carmelo Anthony in its next game on Jan. 22 against Memphis. Anthony was suspended 15 games for his role in a brawl with the New York Knicks on Dec. 16 and the Nuggets have gone 6-8 without the NBA's leading scorer in the lineup.

The Nuggets hadn't won consecutive games since beating Boston and Seattle from Dec. 26-28, and they nearly gave away Friday's game, as the Cavaliers cut Denver's 25-point third-quarter lead to five late in the fourth quarter before the Nuggets put away the game.

"We'll take it," Iverson said. "By 50 points or a point, we'll take it. If we'd have lost, it would have been bad. I like the results we had."

The Nuggets had lost four of their previous five road games before beating Portland.

Team Comparison
Team Record Standings PF PA Road/Home Streak L10
Denver 19-17 2nd Northwest / 7th West 104.9 103.0 Road 8-7 Won 2 3-7
Houston 25-15 3rd Southwest / 6th West 95.6 90.4 Home 13-4 Lost 2 7-3

Denver Notes
Jan 20 G Allen Iverson posted 25 points and nine assists in Friday's win. This marks his sixth game with at least 25 points and eight assists since joining the Nuggets. ... C Marcus Camby recorded his 17th double-double of the season. With a season-high 26 points to go along with 17 rebounds against the Cavaliers tonight, it's the first time he's led the team in scoring this season. Camby is averaging 15.2 ppg and 15.3 rpg over his last 10 outings. ... With the win, the Nuggets are now 6-8 since the NBA handed down the suspensions. They are also 8-15 all-time when F Carmelo Anthony does not play.
st 01-20-07 2:19 et

Houston Notes
Jan 18 With Wednesday's win over the Rockets, the Suns have won five straight in the last two years against Houston after going 3-0 in 2005-06. ... Former Rockets and current Suns G-F Eric Piatkowski missed Wednesday's game for personal reasons. He was on the inactive list and his status for Friday's game vs. Portland is questionable ... G Steve Nash said he had no idea the Suns were down by 15 points early in the 100-91 win over the Rockets, and said the focus was never on anything but winning the game and preserving what has now grown to an 11-game winning streak. Overall, the Suns have lost just twice since November 20 and will look to continue the streak at home this weekend against Portland and Minnesota before heading east for the team's second and final five-game road trip of the season. "It's a big time streak," Amare Stoudamire said. "We just want to continue to grow and to continue this great streak we've got going."

Didnt seem a game thread up for this game yet so I figured id make one so wed have a place to talk about the game. Ill be around during the whole game so if anyones around come over duirng gametime and talk about it. Also if anyone needs updates let me know I can give some.

melo4life · 01-20-2007, 03:32 PM

yeah tmac might not be playing either, with his back spasms but we cant rule him out yet, so we have to be prepared for a big game

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 05:58 PM

Started out slow just werent making our shots and Houston started out hot. Were looking a lil better right now 15-9 Houstons lead.

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 06:10 PM

Rockets shooting a lil over 61% right now leading the Nuggets 31-25 after 1.

melo4life · 01-20-2007, 06:12 PM

yeah our shooting hasnt been fantastic from the 3pt line, but hopefully we can win the next quarter

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 06:18 PM

Rafer Alston is on fire right now killing us from deep actually there whole team is on fire shooting right now hopefully they cool down 41-30 Rockets

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 06:36 PM

Good run by the Nuggets and a couple of big defensive plays down low by Camby and Nene and were down 4 with AI on the line shooting 2.

Points
AI 16
Nene 9
JR 8

Also Cambys already got 12 rebounds

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 06:49 PM

Rockets lead 58-53 at the half

melo4life · 01-20-2007, 06:54 PM

yeah we did pretty well that quarter, outscored them by 1

iverson has 20 points, 2 assists, 1 steal
blake has 5 points, 2 assists, 2 steals
camby has 2 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks
JR has 10 points

hopefully we can husstle our way infront and then hold on for the rest of the game, that quarter was pretty good and hopefully camby can continue dominating the boards, iverson keep on scoring and the other guards pitch in a little more on the scoreboards or with the assists/steals....

melo4life · 01-20-2007, 07:28 PM

down by 9 points at 3 quarter time,, 77-86

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 07:59 PM

AI with a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE 3 with a minute left to tie the game.

Great comeback by the Nuggets thus far

Melo's Answer · 01-20-2007, 08:01 PM

GREAT DEFENSE by Diawara on McGrady.

5 seconds left tie game NUGGETS BALL!!!

LETS GO NUGGETS!!

4BiddenKnight · 01-20-2007, 08:04 PM

CAMBY!?!?!?!?!? Why's he shooting the last shot?

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