MINNEAPOLIS — The Nuggets love the Target Center.
Heading into Saturday night's contest, Denver had won seven consecutive meetings in Minnesota.
Make it eight — but not without another near meltdown.
J.R. Smith scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter and the duo ofArron AfflaloandChauncey Billupscoolly hit from the outside throughout as the NBA's most prolific offense avoided squandering a 14-point lead to defeat Minnesota 113-100.
With the win andUtah Jazzloss, Denver (30-21) moves into second place in the Northwest Division in what can be expected to be a back-and- forth race the rest of the way.
"I thought tonight our offense had a rhythm to it all game," Nuggets coach George Karl said.
Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 25. Afflalo and Billups combined for eight 3-pointers and 43 points. The Nuggets' point man also helped set up a steady stream of layups and dunks.
"We did a really good job of opening up the floor, running pick-and-rolls and finding the open man," Billups said, who tied a season-high with 13 assists.
True to form the Nuggets charged the basket and Minnesota offered little resistance.
Also true: While Denver has dominated the head-to-head matchup in the wins column, the games have been close. Case in point: Denver has now won by 13, six and two points this season — the last of which saw the Nuggets leading by as many as 20.
Since the division is so tight — Oklahoma City, Denver and Utah are separated by four games — Karl finds the team's wins this season against the 11-39 Wolves to be gratifying.
"I'm glad we got both of them (wins) because there's a divisional race going on between Utah, Portland and Oklahoma City and us," Karl said. "I would bet one of us is probably going to tie, and the divisional records is going to be the determining factor."
Denver, with the exception of Anthony, couldn't find the range in the first quarter.
Anthony scored 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting. The rest of the team combined for 12 on 4-for-17.
Thereafter, they hit 71.4 percent in the second and 54.4 percent overall.
The Wolves came back in the second half and cut the lead to as close as three, but Smith hit a couple of jumpers and Billups sealed it with a dagger 3 with less than two minutes to play to give Denver the win.
"In the fourth quarter, we buckled down and took care of business," Billups said.
Nuggets Recap
What you might have missed
The Nuggets made 40.7 percent of their 3-pointers, outrebounded the NBA's best team in that department 46-45 and finished with 50 points in the paint.
Final thought
Denver plays down to the Wolves sometimes, but always seems to find a way to win.
Up next
Vs. Houston, Monday, 7 p.m.
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