Carmelo Anthony scored 38 points in what may have been his last game for the Denver Nuggets, who rallied late for a 94-87 victory over the host Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
The subject of trade rumors for months, Anthony shot 16 of 30 and grabbed 12 rebounds. The trade deadline is Thursday and talks continue to heat up about the All-Star forward. Denver plays Memphis on Tuesday in its last game before the deadline.
Chauncey Billups drained a 3-pointer with 2:50 left to give Denver an 88-86 lead after it had squandered an 11-point third-quarter edge.
Kenyon Martin followed in Anthony's airball with 1:26 to play before the Bucks’ Andrew Bogut split two free throws with 1:18 left to pull Milwaukee within 90-87.
John Salmons missed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left, and Martin and Anthony blocked follow shots before Billups secured a rebound with 16 seconds left and drained two free throws to seal it.
Milwaukee missed its last 10 shots to fall to 2-8 in its last 10 games.
Salmons scored a season-high 33 points and sparked an 18-3 run with 10 points that provided Milwaukee a 75-71 lead with 10 minutes left.
Denver | Milwaukee | |
Carmelo Anthony 38 | Scoring | John Salmons 33 |
Kenyon Martin 7 | Assists | Earl Boykins 5 |
Carmelo Anthony 12 | Rebounds | Andrew Bogut 20 |
Chauncey Billups 7 | Free Throws Made | Corey Maggette 7 |
Chris Andersen 2 | Steals | Earl Boykins 3 |
Kenyon Martin 5 | Blocks | Andrew Bogut 5 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Denver | 94 | 46.1 | 3-11 | 21-25 | 15 | 44 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
Milwaukee | 87 | 38.8 | 3-23 | 22-28 | 14 | 40 | 9 | 7 | 8 |