Brooks, Scola rally Rockets past Nuggets
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Don't tell the Houston Rockets they are out of the playoff picture just yet.
Aaron Brooks swished a jumper with 2.9 seconds left and scored 31 points to help the Rockets rally for a 125-123 victory over Denver on Monday night, snapping the Nuggets' six-game winning streak.
Carmelo Anthony scored 45 points for the Nuggets but missed a 3-point try at the buzzer. Luis Scola grabbed the final rebound and finished with 23 points and 11 boards.
Houston, now five games behind Portland in the race for the last Western Conference playoff spot, has won three in a row for the first time since mid-December.
"We don't have much room for error," said Scola, who was coming off a career-high, 44-point game. "It's only like a month away, the end of the season, so we need to win games."
Scola converted a key three-point play with 41 seconds remaining to put Houston ahead 122-121.
Brooks split two free throws before Anthony drove past Shane Battier for a layup to tie it at 123. Brooks then dribbled around Anthony Carter and hit the go-ahead shot from the right of the free throw line.
"I wanted to get some space first," Brooks said. "I knew it wasn't going to be all the way to the rim. I thought it would probably be a floater before I got to the rim. I tried to get open and get a shot off."
Kevin Martin scored 29 points for Houston. Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith added 17 apiece for the Nuggets.
The Nuggets led 104-93 with 10 minutes left in the game after trailing by as much as 16 in the first half. Battier's corner 3 with 8:05 left capped a 7-0 spurt to draw the Rockets within four.
Anthony was concerned with how the Nuggets played down the stretch of Monday's game.
"I don't think we'll be able to get away with that come playoff time," he said. "That's something that's fixable and we need to do it quick."
The Rockets couldn't crack the four-point deficit until Scola swished a jumper from the wing with 3:25 to go to cut it to 115-113.
Denver stretched the lead to five but couldn't put away Houston. Trevor Ariza's 3-pointer with 1:09 left made it 121-119, Arron Afflalo missed a 3 and Scola rebounded. He got the ball to Brooks, then charged down the lane for a tying layup. Billups fouled out on the play and Scola hit the ensuing free throw to put the Rockets ahead.
"The last couple of games, I think we played great," Scola said. "Today, we fought."
Until then, Anthony and the Nuggets seemed to have the game in hand.
Houston led by 11 at the half but Billups sank consecutive 3-pointers early in the third quarter to get the Nuggets going. His tip-in with 4:36 left tied it at 83-all and Anthony made a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to give Denver its first lead of the game.
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