Cavaliers chew up Nuggets

In the locker room at halftime, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown forced his players to watch a horror flick - highlights of their defense in the first half.

"We were watching film and it was as ugly as it looked," Mo Williams said.

After allowing 61 points in a first-half track meet, the Cavaliers buckled down, held Denver to 38 after halftime, and won their sixth straight, a 110-99 victory over the Nuggets last night in Cleveland.

LeBron James scored 22 points, most of them coming with good buddy Carmelo Anthony guarding him, and Williams scored a season-high 24, making a critical 3-pointer with James on the bench, as the Cavaliers improved to 5-0 at home and beat the Nuggets for the first time since 2005.

James had lost his last five games against Anthony and is now just 3-8 against his US Olympic teammate since they broke into the league together in 2003. James added 11 assists and eight rebounds, and for the moment owns bragging rights over Anthony.

"Any time I play LeBron and we play Cleveland it's a fun game," Anthony said. "That's the way it is, there's so much hype around the game. I don't want to say they were the better team, but they executed down the stretch."

Denver lost for the first time in four games since acquiring Chauncey Billups in the trade that sent Allen Iverson to Detroit.

Billups scored a season-high 26 points - 16 in the first quarter - Anthony had 18, and Kenyon Martin 12 with 10 rebounds. Martin was ejected with 55 seconds left after he was called for a flagrant-2 foul for slamming his shoulder into Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao.

Before leaving the floor, Martin screamed obscenities at referee Joey Crawford before Nuggets coach George Karl escorted him off.

Pistons 107, Warriors 102 - Iverson scored 23 points and Rasheed Wallace hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as visiting Detroit beat Golden State.

After losing their first two games with Iverson, the Pistons have won the first two games on their four-game road trip. There wasn't a lot to feel good about, though, in this blunder-filled game that featured 33 turnovers and many other miscues.

Andris Biedrins had 17 points and 19 rebounds for his 16th straight double-double for the Warriors, who are still seeking their first back-to-back wins of the season.

Bulls 98, Mavericks 91 - Ben Gordon scored 35 points and host Chicago roared back from an early 19-point deficit to send Dallas to its fourth straight loss. Josh Howard, returning after missing two games with a sore wrist, led Dallas with 21 points.