Carmelo Anthony returned to action and the Denver Nuggets continued their home court dominance, as the Nuggets defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 105-94 on Wednesday night.
Anthony may have still been feeling the effects of flulike symptoms as he registered 14 points and 4 rebounds, both below his season averages, before being ejected in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Though the Bucks eclipsed their NBA low 91.2 season scoring average it wasn't nearly enough this evening.
Nene led the Nuggets with 24 points and J.R. Smith had a team high 10 rebounds. The Nuggets had six players in double figures, as Chauncey Billups, Melo, Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Nene and Smith all registered double digit scoring outputs.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Nuggets and improved their home court record to 8-1. For the season the Nuggets are 11-6.
John Salmons put in 21 points and Ersan Ilyasova had 9 rebounds to lead the Bucks. Brandon Jennings added 14 while former Missouri Tiger great Keyon Dooling chipped in eight in a losing effort.
The Bucks (6-12) were playing without Andrew Bogut, their second leading scorer and leading rebounder, who has missed the last few games with an injury to his back.