All season long, the Denver Nuggets hadn’t won a tight game. They broke the trend Thursday night.
Anthony Goldwire hit two three-pointers in the final minute and the host Nuggets withstood two furious Vancouver rallies to post a rare victory, 98-93.
The Nuggets, snapping a 16-game losing streak, got 21 points from Cory Alexander, who was making his first start since signing with Denver on March 4, and 19 points from rookie Danny Fortson.
With their rare breakthrough, the Nuggets are 1-12 in games decided by five points or less.
“Winning our first close one was great,” coach Bill Hanzlik said. “Hopefully this will give us some confidence.”
“The biggest thing is that we were able to make it over the hump,” Alexander said.
Despite the win, the Nuggets (6-58) remained on pace to eclipse the worst record in NBA history (9-73) set by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1972-73.
Heat 97, Cavaliers 74: P.J. Brown had an eventful second quarter for host Miami, scoring eight of his 12 points and getting involved in a fracas with Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
With Miami leading 36-20 with 7:15 left in the second quarter, Brown dunked and then hit a runner in the lane before a frustrated Ilgauskas grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the floor.
Brown was restrained by Shawn Kemp and Ilgauskas was hit with a flagrant foul.
Mark Strickland and Alonzo Mourning scored 13 apiece to lead six Heat players in double figures. All 12 active Miami players scored.
Rockets 115, Nets 104: Clyde Drexler scored 33 points, including five in the tight final minute, as host Houston extended the New Jersey losing streak to seven games.
The Nets never led after the opening minutes but stayed with the Rockets to the end, pulling within 99-96 with 2:51 left.
Mario Elie followed with a three-point basket, and after Sam Cassell scored for New Jersey with 2:17 to go, Hakeem Olajuwon put the Rockets up 104-98 and Drexler followed with five points in the final minute for a 109-101 advantage.
Lakers 108, Clippers 85: Shaquille O’Neal scored 32 points and Eddie Jones added 23 for the visiting Lakers. Derek Fisher tied a career-high with 21 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in place of injured point guard Nick Van Exel.
Robert Horry had 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who entered the game with a league-leading 105.4 scoring average and inproved to 15-0 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
Trail Blazers 95, T’wolves 92: Arvydas Sabonis had 28 points and 20 rebounds, including the game-winning basket with 7.2 seconds remaining, for host Portland.
Sabonis scored on a rebound to put the Blazers ahead 93-92. Isaiah Rider was fouled after teammate Rasheed Wallace stole the inbounds pass and made both free throws with one second remaining.
Stephon Marbury missed a three-point shot at the buzzer for the Timberwolves, who were led by Sam Mitchell’s 21 points.
Spurs 97, Kings 86: David Robinson had his nose bloodied in the first quarter but returned to score 29 points for host San Antonio.
Robinson was joined in double figures by Tim Duncan with 24 points and Jaren Jackson with 18.
