NBA: Iverson moves Mavs
Allen Iverson went hard to the basket. He didn’t get there, but he did draw a foul.
The next time down the court, Iverson made another veteran move, drawing another foul on the same defender.
The game was only 1 1/2 minutes old, yet Iverson already was in full control.
A day after scoring 51 points in a defeat, Iverson may have been better, scoring 35 points and dishing out 12 assists while leading the Denver Nuggets past the Dallas Mavericks 122-109 Thursday night at Dallas.
“A.I. had it all going from everywhere,” said Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, who tied his season high with 32 points and had 12 rebounds. “He was driving and making shots in-between.”
Iverson made 12 of 19 field goals and was 11 of 13 from the line. It was his sixth time scoring 30 points and his fourth time with at least 10 assists. This was his first 30-10 game of the season.
“I thought A.I. had a real good feel for the game,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “His game is to get to the free-throw line and to run. Dallas tried to get the ball out of his hands. He definitely did a good job getting the guys involved.”
“NBA coaches aren’t too pleased about wearing microphones during nationally televised games. Dallas’ Avery Johnson and Denver’s Karl became the first to clip on the little wires when their teams met in the game shown on TNT.
Hawks 90, Timberwolves 89: At Atlanta, Joe Johnson’s 18-footer at the buzzer lifted Atlanta to a victory over league-worst Minnesota.
Minnesota, which lost its fifth straight to drop to 2-15, had a one-point lead after Marko Jaric’s layin with 2.2 seconds left.
Trail Blazers 112, Heat 106: At Portland, Brandon Roy scored 25 points and dished out six assists to lead the Blazers past Miami. Travis Outlaw added 20 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 14 and grabbed 10 rebounds for Portland.
“Small forward Darius Miles may be one step closer to rejoining Portland, returning to practice for the first time in 13 months. Miles underwent microfracture knee surgery just before the 2006-07 season and missed much of the previous season after tearing the meniscus in his knee.
No kidding, my head hurt
Jason Kidd insisted a migraine caused him to miss a New Jersey game, brushing aside reports he was staging a personal one-day strike to induce a trade or force a new contract. Kidd said he was hit in the mouth Tuesday night in a game against Cleveland, and he later developed a migraine.