TORONTO — Carmelo Anthony buried an 18-foot fadeaway at the buzzer to lead the Denver Nuggets to a come-from-behind 97-96 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
After Anthony missed his first attempt, the loose ball was batted to Nene. He swung it to Chauncey Billups, who fed Anthony inside the arc. Anthony dribbled once and hoisted a jumper that dropped through as the horn sounded.
Anthony scored 25 points and Nene added 20 for the Nuggets (48-25), who avoided their first four-game losing streak since February 2007. Billups chipped in with 18 points despite going just 4-for-18 from the field.
Chris Bosh had 18 points and 12 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan added 15 points in a rare reserve role, and Andrea Bargnani had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Toronto.
Sonny Weems also scored 14 points for the Raptors (35-36), who are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto has dropped two straight entering a pivotal two-game road stretch against Charlotte and Miami, the two teams directly in front of them in the East.
Down four at the half, the Raptors took advantage of some shoddy Denver shooting — the Nuggets shot 3-for-21 in the third quarter — and seized the lead with seven minutes to go in the third. Bosh added consecutive dunks later in the quarter, and Toronto carried an 81-72 lead into the fourth.
Marco Belinelli hit a jumper to extended the lead to 12 before the Nuggets answered with a 9-0 run. Anthony drained an 18-footer to tie it with 1:39 remaining, but Bargnani followed with a running layup and drew a foul, making the free throw to put Toronto back up by three.
Anthony missed a pair of free throws at the other end, but Denver retained possession and Billups hit a 3-pointer with 33.9 seconds left. Bosh drew a foul on Toronto's next possession and converted 1-of-2 free throws to put Toronto up 96-95 with 16.2 seconds remaining, setting up the dramatic finish.
Following a 26-point loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, the Raptors struggled from the field early on. Toronto made only two of its first 10 shots, and the Nuggets cruised to a 10-4 lead just four minutes in.
Notes
Nuggets G/F Joey Graham made his first appearance in Toronto since leaving the Raptors as a free agent last summer. He was greeted with mild applause when he checked into the game to begin the second quarter. … Bosh came into the game averaging 16.4 points in 12 career games against Denver, his lowest scoring average against any NBA team. … Nuggets F Kenyon Martin (knee) sat out his 12th consecutive game. … The Nuggets entered Friday having won 10 of their last 11 meetings with the Raptors by an average margin of 15.