May 4th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Typically for the Denver Nuggets, the bulk of the offense runs through either Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups – or on the rare occasion – J.R. Smith. In Sunday’s game in the Western Conference second round against the Dallas Mavericks, they got their offense through an unlikely source – Nene Hilario. Now don’t get me wrong, Anthony got his points; however, Hilario isn’t exactly known for his offensive prowess. But nonetheless, he scored 24 along with Anthony’s 25 in leading Denver to the 109-95 at Pepsi Center.
The first half wasn’t exactly favorable to the Nuggets as they started slow; they would be outscored by the Mavericks 24-16 entering the second quarter. But withthe unexpected offense of Hilario, Denver rebounded back as they went into halftime ahead 51-47; they held an 82-80 lead in the the fourth quarter when they went on what turned out to be a decisive 15-4 run – essentially icing the game for Denver.
Denver’s high scorer was Hilario with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 assists and a block while Anthony added 23 with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks; Smith, from off the bench, chipped in 15 with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and a block.
Dallas was led by Dirk Nowitzki with 28 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block while the trio of Jason Kidd, Josh Howard and Jason Terry added 15 each – with Kidd grabbing 4 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists along with 4 steals but turning the ball over 8 – yes, 8!! – times while Howard grabbed 2 rebounds; Terry made three 3-pointers along while grabbing 5 boards, dishing out an assist along with a steal and a block. Dallas and Denver hook up again on Tuesday night in Game 2.
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