<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets lost one star soon after the tip-off and another in the closing minutes on their way to a 101-92 defeat at the hands of the much appreciative New Jersey Nets. Vince Carter scored 25 points and Richard Jefferson 24 as the Nets cruised past the short-handed Nuggets, who added forward Carmelo Anthony to their ever-growing list of injured players. Five of Carter's points came at the line with 1:05 left after Kenyon Martin, who scored 26 points against his former team, was whistled for a foul and got slapped with two technicals, resulting in his ejection. The Nets, who were clinging to a 93-87 lead when Carter went to the line, snapped the Nuggets' six-game winning streak at the Pepsi Center. "I think this win shows our mental toughness, because it's mind over matter," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "You have Jason Kidd who played 46 minutes last night, and then plays 40 tonight. This is something our guys can look back on and is a good experience for this team. Denver is one of the best homecourt teams in the league. Things worked for us. We got fortunate that Carmelo got hurt." Anthony sprained his left ankle just 1:09 into the game and the Nets built a 55-40 halftime lead, then held off the scrappy, injury-riddled Nuggets on their way to their second straight road win that wrapped up a 2-3 trip and evened their record at 7-7. </div> Source
