Monta Ellis scored 37 points, Dorell Wright had 23 points and 11 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors beat the short-handed Denver Nuggets 116-114 on Wednesday night.
David Lee had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Wright added eight assists and the Warriors closed out their longest home stretch of the season in style. They finished 8-6 during a stretch of 13 of 14 at home.
Carmelo Anthony finished with 29 points, and Nene had 17 points for a Nuggets team playing without starting point guard Chauncey Billups.
Billups sat out with a strained left knee but expects to play Wednesday against the Dallas Mavericks in Denver.
After Denver trimmed a 13-point deficit to only one, Ellis answered with a 3-pointer with 47.7 seconds remaining to give Golden State a 116-112 lead. J.R Smith came back with a jumper, and Denver had one final chance to send it to overtime or win.
But a botched final possession ended with an errant, step-back shot from Nene that missed—his only miss of the game after making his first six shots. Anthony was clearly upset he didn’t get the ball on the final possession, throwing his head band to the floor and quickly walking to the locker room.
It was about the worst possible way for Denver to end the night, and perhaps the best way for Golden State to close out a long homestand.
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While they finished with a winning mark, they had talked about aiming even higher and trying to get into the Western Conference playoff picture. Instead, Golden State (23-28) is still five-games below .500 and heading into a difficult part of its schedule.
The Warriors can at least take some momentum with them on the road.
