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 Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and Allen Iverson had 36 points and nine assists for Denver, which ended a two-game losing streak.
Yao Ming had 26 points and 19 rebounds and Luther Head scored a season-high 22 for the Rockets, who have lost three straight and five of their last six. Houston was without leading scorer Tracy McGrady, who sat out with a sore left knee.
Yao's two free throws with 4.5 seconds left gave the Rockets the lead, but Carter, who had six points in the game, hit a 15-footer for the winner.
Chucky Atkins, who missed the first 24 games of the season with a groin injury, hit an 18-foot jumper with 20.1 seconds left to give Denver a 110-109 lead. Shane Battier had given the Rockets a 109-108 lead with 35.3 second left with a 3-pointer.
Houston led 106-103 before Atkins, who had 13 points, hit a 3-pointer with 1:32 left.
The Nuggets led 100-97 in overtime but a free throw by Rafer Alston, who had 18 points, with less than a minute left in the period sent the game to a second overtime.
The Rockets trailed 94-87 with 1:40 left in regulation but scored the final seven points, the last on a 3-pointer by Head.
Anthony, who had eight points on 2-for-17 shooting in the first half, found his stroke in the third quarter. He hit all eight of his shots in the period, and after making a 21-foot jumper from the wing to give Denver a 69-63 lead, he pumped his fist. He scored 16 points in the period. He hit his first shot of the fourth quarter before a 19-footer rimmed out.
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The Nuggets led 44-42 at halftime thanks to their advantage from the free-throw line. Denver outscored Houston 12-2 from the foul line in the first half, when the Rockets were whistled for 11 fouls to the Nuggets' five. Houston didn't attempt a foul shot until Yao went 1-for-2 from the line with 1:30 left in the second period.
Denver trailed 27-23 early in the second when Iverson, who had 18 of the Nuggets' first 26 points, scored on a three-point play and Atkins hit two 3-pointers to spark an 11-2 Denver run.
The Rockets used the 3-point shot to take the lead after the first quarter. Head hit two of them and Alston another to help give Houston a 23-18 lead heading into the second period.
Notes: Nuggets F Kenyon Martin left the game in the second half with a leg injury and did not return. ... Head started in place of the injured McGrady, who was hurt in the first half of Houston's loss to Orlando on Wednesday. ... Rockets G Steve Francis was not with the team because of the flu.
[Associated Press; By MARK PRATT]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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