Nuggets Blast Rockets

After being burned by Steve Francis and the Houston Rockets eight days earlier, the Denver Nuggets got it right in the rematch.

Ron Mercer scored 24 points and Nick Van Exel had 21, leading the Nuggets to a 104-98 victory Friday night and snapping their 11-game losing streak to the Rockets.

Antonio McDyess added 18 points before fouling out with 3:16 left. Raef LaFrentz had 15 points and George McCloud came off the bench to score 14.

"Basically, the difference was in our defense," said Nuggets coach Dan Issel, referring to his team's 122-115 loss in Houston on Jan. 20 when the Rockets had six players in double figures.

"Instead of trapping Francis and rotating defensively, we let Nick and Chris (Herren) guard Francis by themselves," Issel said. "When you try to trap him, you just open up the floor.

"I thought they (Van Exel and Herren) did a great job. I know that he got 27 points, but he had to take 25 shots to get them. And we didn't let anybody else have a big night."

Francis disagreed, saying the Nuggets' different defensive scheme "had nothing to do with it. I just couldn't make shots. By the fourth quarter, I was dead tired and a lot of my shots came up short. I was gasping for air."

"I thought they were joking when they told me I would come up here and be tired. But I was tred."

It was the third straight loss following a six-game winning streak for the Rockets, who played Golden State at home Thursday night.

"Denver's style of play and the (mile high) altitude are a perfect combination," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "They've got the right players for it."

Tomjanovich said playing in Denver in the second game of back-to-back nights "should be outlawed or they should just spot us some oxygen points. We had seven traveling calls, and that's what happens when you come up here. You lose that sharpness."

Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon scored seven points, moving ahead of former Nugget Alex English into 10th place on the NBA career scoring list with 25,616 points.

"I was only made aware of it yesterday," Olajuwon said. "I needed to work hard for my seven points. This was punishment for me, having to play in Denver. I couldn't get anything going. They played me really tough. We disappeared tonight."

Denver hadn't beaten the Rockets since a 113-109 decision in Houston on Jan. 30, 1997. Houston also had won six straight games in Denver.

Van Exel scored Denver's final eight points of the third quarter, including back-to-back 3-pointers, helping build a 75-62 lead that the Rockets whittled to 75-67 entering the fourth quarter.

McCloud's 3-pointer to open the final period made it 78-67, and Houston got no closer than six points after that. McCloud's basket with 8:01 left gave Denver its biggest lead, 88-74. Mercer made 4-of-4 free throws to maintain a 12-point advantage. Francis and Kelvin Cato combined for the last 11 Houston points, cutting the deficit to six.

Cato's rebound layup made it 102-96 with 1:32 remaining, but Van Exel made two free throws with 1:14 to go.

Mercer had 15 points in the first half to help the Nuggets take a 46-40 lead.

Bullard scored five points in Houston's 9-0 run that produced a 15-9 lead midway through the opening quarter. But the Rockets shot only 31 percent in the period, and Denver outscored Houston 14-4 over the final six minutes for a 23-19 lead.

Denver started the second quarter hitting just 2-of-12 shots, allowing Houston to take a 32-27 lead on Cato's rebound slam with 6:20 left in the period. The Nuggets again dominated late in the period, outscoring the Rockets 15-6 in the last four minutes, including nine points by Mercer.

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