|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Thursday, Dec. 23 10:00pm ET
Big Country's tip trips Nuggets | |||||
|
| ||||||
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Bryant Reeves came out of nowhere to lead the Vancouver Grizzlies past the Denver Nuggets. Booed by the home crowd and struggling with only one rebound and three points going into the final minute, Reeves tipped in Shareef Abdur-Rahim's miss with 5.5 seconds left to give Vancouver a 93-91 victory Thursday night. "It's great. Not because (of the crowd booing), but because we won the game," said Reeves, who has struggled all season, and has been nursing a sore right knee he injured in October. "That's the main thing. Now we've been able to put up two back to back close games that we've been able to pull out. That helps our confidence." The play turned out just as it was drawn up, with coach Lionel Hollins telling Reeves to be ready to fill the middle in the event of a rebound because the Nuggets were going to collapse on Abdur-Rahim after he drove the right baseline. Referring to a conversation he had with Abdur-Rahim just before the game-winning basket, Reeves said: "Shareef said to me, 'No matter what, we're either going to win the game here or we're going to go into overtime.' The play was all set up for him to take the ball to the basket ... I was just hoping that if he did happen to miss that I'd get the opportunity to get it. And it was there." Abdur-Rahim scored 29 points and Michael Dickerson added 22 as the Grizzlies won their second straight to improve to 2-1 since Hollins replaced Brian Hill as coach. Grizzlies point guard Mike Bibby finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Raef LaFrentz scored a career-high 29 points for the Nuggets, who had a three-game winning streak snapped and blew an opportunity to go three games over .500 for the first time since December 1994. After giving up a 15-2 run to fall behind 89-84, the Grizzlies outscored the Nuggets 9-2 the rest of the way. Denver failed to hit a field goal after that, and also went 2-for-4 from the line. After LaFrentz hit one of two free throws to tie it at 91 with 17.6 seconds left, the Grizzlies won it on their next possession. The Nuggets' last hope to tie it ended when Nick Van Exel missed a layup, and Antonio McDyess couldn't grab the rebound. Abdur-Rahim was happy for both his team, and for Reeves. "I think it does a lot. We needed it to win the game. And then it just does a lot for his own confidence, getting back into the swing of things," Abdur-Rahim said. The Nuggets, who lost their second straight game in Vancouver, were coming off consecutive home victories over Sacramento, San Antonio and Portland. "It takes a lot out of us coming up here and losing after having a decent week last week," Van Exel said. "But the good thing about it is that you get to play again and this will be over with tomorrow." The Nuggets can earn their revenge at home on Sunday, when they meet the Grizzlies again. "We thought this one would be the revenge match," Van Exel said. "We've got to go back to the drawing board and see how we can beat these guys." The Nuggets lost coach Dan Issel, who was ejected late in the third quarter. Frustrated by a string of calls he felt did not go his way, Issel erupted along the sidelines just after Abdur-Rahim made a 19-footer to tie it at 67 with 1:46 left. After referee Derek Richardson issued a double-technical against the coach, Issel had to be restrained by two of his players and eventually assistant coach John Lucas before he left the court. Game notesGeorge McCloud returned to Denver's lineup after missing one game with a sprained left ankle. ... Abdur-Rahim's 29 points gave him 5,016 over his career. Although the league doesn't keep the numbers, it's believed that Abdur-Rahim, who turned 23 on Dec. 11, is the second-youngest player to score 5,000 points. Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal was 22 when he accomplished the feat in only his third season. ... Grizzlies guard Doug West, who has missed all but five games this season overcoming toe surgery, is expected to miss at least two weeks after a bone scan revealed a stress fracture in his left wrist. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Denver Clubhouse Vancouver Clubhouse RECAPS Atlanta 108 Cleveland 90
Vancouver 93
  | |||||