Wallace, Bobcats hand Nuggets loss

Gerald Wallace scored 25 points and had a key block of Carmelo Anthony in the final minute of the Charlotte Bobcats' 105-101 win over the Denver Nuggets, who lost their third straight game Monday night.

With the Bobcats ahead 102-101, Anthony came down with the ball that was bobbled around following a miss by Adam Morrison and he darted for the other end only to get rejected by Wallace.

Wallace then misfired at the other end, but Raymond Felton got the long rebound, was fouled by Anthony and sank both shots with 16 seconds left for a 104-101 lead.

The Nuggets called timeout to set up a shot to send the game into overtime, but J.R. Smith's off-balance 3-pointer was off-target with 6 seconds left and Jeff McInnis sank one of two free throws to ice it.

Before the game, Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff was lamenting his lack of a clutch player to close out games. "What we lack is a difference maker. A guy to go to down the stretch. We don't have a Kobe or a Carter to give the ball all the time with the game on the line," he said.

But he had plenty of players step up on this night.

Charlotte trailed 97-94 when Wallace, who grabbed 13 rebounds, hit a free throw, Morrison (12 points) swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Wallace swooped in for a tip-in to give the Bobcats a 100-97 lead with 2:26 remaining.

Allen Iverson's three-point play tied it at 100 but the Nuggets wouldn't lead again.

Emeka Okafor added 18 points for the Bobcats and Felton scored 16.

Iverson and Anthony bounced back from a poor shooting performance against New Jersey on Saturday night, when they combined to make just 11-of-33 shots.

Iverson scored 31 on 10-of-15 shooting against Charlotte and Anthony scored 25, although he needed 26 shots. Smith was just 2-for-12 for nine points.

The Nuggets trailed 73-64 early in the second half but came roaring back to tie it at 75 with a run capped by consecutive dunks from Iverson and Anthony. On the first, Melo got the defensive rebound and hurled the ball upcourt for AI's jam. Then, Iverson returned the favor, pushing the ball upcourt for a rim-rattling dunk by Anthony that rocked the Pepsi Center and forced the Bobcats to call timeout.

The Nuggets weren't done. This time, Nene took Iverson's behind-the-back pass for a dunk that gave Denver its first lead of the second half at 77-75.

Charlotte took an 81-79 lead into the fourth quarter, however, and didn't fade this time.

Iverson rolled his right ankle coming down for a rebound with eight minutes left in the second quarter. He went to the trainer's room to get retaped and returned two minutes later and played the rest of the game.

Before tip-off, Denver coach George Karl was complaining about how his team has been stuck in a rut of inadequate hustle and energy, exactly what happened Monday night until Eduardo Najera had a series of nice plays in the fourth quarter that sparked the Nuggets, just not enough to save them.

Notes:@ Bobcats C-F Othella Harrington sat out with a sore left knee, which he hurt at shootaround. ... The Nuggets fell to 12-12 at home. They're 10-8 on the road and hit the halfway point of their season Saturday with a better road record for the first time in franchise history.