DENVER The surging Philadelphia 76ers looked as if they were going to avoid suffering only their third loss of the season, but Nick van Exel took over at crunch time to preserve a victory for Denver Nuggets on Monday.
Van Exel scored the last six points of the game the only points scored over the final 64 seconds to secure a 105-98 victory for the Nuggets.
Denver seemed to be in control for most of the second half and grabbed a 99-90 lead on a Van Exel basket with 3:42 left.
But Allen Iverson and company ran off eight points in 48 seconds to come within one at 99-98.
Iverson slashed for a layup and was fouled and converted the three-point play. Theo Ratliff scored with 2:08 left, bringing Philadelphia within 99-95. A George Lynch steal and dunk and another Iverson free throw cut the deficit to one.
But just as the Sixers had seized the momentum they ran out of steam.
Iverson missed a fastbreak layup and Van Exel connected on a finger roll at the other end with 1:04 left to make it a three-point game and the Sixers faltered the rest of the way.
Lynch and Aaron McKey each missed 3-pointers and Lynch missed a pair of free throws as Philadelphia squandered chance after chance in the closing two minutes.
Van Exel, who finished with 17 points, nailed four free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory.
Raef Lafrentz had 25 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks, Antonio McDyess added 24 points and 11 boards and Voshon Lenard chipped in 19 points for the Nuggets, who became the first team to score 100 points against the Sixers this season.
Iverson led all scorers with 37 points, Ratliff had 14 and Toni Kukoc 12 for Philadelphia, which has never won at the Pepsi Center.
(Reuter)