Are the Denver Nuggets feeling the pressure from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference playoff race?
Actually, they are more concerned with what will happen if they reach the postseason and have to play Seattle in the first round.The Nuggets saw the Magic Johnson-led Lakers trim a 61/2-game deficit for the conference's eighth playoff to 21/2 games going into Thursday night's game at Denver against the SuperSonics, who have the NBA's best record.
But the Nuggets broke open a close game in the final minutes to beat the Sonics 104-90, ending their nine-game winning streak and Denver's four-game losing streak.
"We knew they would want to send a message to us," Denver's Robert Pack said. "So we had to come out and play hard. We got our intensity level up in the second quarter and we were able to continue it through the end of the game. I hope we sent a message to them. We knew we would have to play ferocious defense and we really responded with great intensity."
Reggie Williams led all scorers with 24 points for the Nuggets. Shawn Kemp had 20 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks, while Gary Payton scored 17 points for Seattle.
Dikembe Mutombo had his third triple-double of the season with 13 rebounds, 13 points and 11 of Denver's of 15 blocked shots.
Nuggets coach Dan Issel was ejected with two technicals with 2:02 remaining in the first period, and the Sonics led 24-16 after the free throws.
But Denver responded to assistant coach Gene Littles' direction to hold Seattle to 38.8 percent shooting.
"Our players stepped it up after Dan got kicked out. This is probably the team we will play in the playoffs, so it was a real big win," Littles said. "We already had our game plan in place, so we didn't change much after Dan left. We just stepped up our level of play the last three quarters."
Seattle coach George Karl was disappointed.
"We ran out of the attitude we need to win on the road. We're one of the best shooting teams in the league, but we haven't been shooting well for the past couple of games," Karl said.
Rockets 134, Warriors 102
Houston set a franchise record by making 12 of 17 3-pointers, and Hakeem Olajuwon had 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the rout of Golden State.
Knicks 97, Cavaliers 94, OT
New York won its ninth straight home game and completed its first season sweep of Cleveland in 12 years when Derek Harper hit his second 3-pointer of overtime with 6.7 seconds left.
Harper finished with 22 points and Charles Oakley had a season-high 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Knicks, who have won 16 of 17 games overall.
Nets 93, Hawks 87
New Jersey pulled into a tie with Indiana for seventh place in the East and extended its margin over ninth-place Charlotte to 51/2 games with a victory over Atlanta.
Derrick Coleman had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Nets.