Denver

- The Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets were two teams desperately in need of a win. The two teams came in combined for eight straight losses and 15 defeats out of their last 18. Something for some team had to give. And it did.
Denver broke a tie score with six unan swered points down the stretch that helped give the Nuggets a 96-91 victory over the Cavs last night at the Pepsi Center.

Raef LaFrentz led the Nuggets with 29 points and Nick Van Exel scored 26. The victory snapped the Nuggets' five-game losing streak and halted a slump where they lost nine out of their last 10.

The Cavs, meanwhile, were led by Lamond Murray's 17 points and Andre Miller had 15. The Cavs (13-22) lost for the fourth straight time and seven out of their last nine. With five more games left on this trip, the Cavs' West Coast swing looks bleak.

"This was a must win for us," said Cavs guard Bimbo Coles, who finished with 11 points. "Coming out west, you have to win the games you're capable of winning. Like tonight, we should've won this basketball game so we could start this road trip off right. Now we have to roll up our sleeves and go out and battle the rest of the way and try to get some wins."

The Cavs had a chance to win last night, especially when Zydrunas Ilgauskas threw a perfect bounce pass to Ricky Davis, who in turn, slammed it home to tie the score at 83 with 7:00 left.

Ilgauskas scored the next two buckets for the Cavs for an 87-86 lead. Van Exel scored and converted a free throw for a two-point Denver (11-23) lead. Miller floated a pass to Murray, who slammed it home to tie the score at 89 with 3:32 left.

Here was the Cavs' chance. But the Nuggets outhustled the Cavs and scored six straight points for a 95-89 with 1:33 left. The Nuggets put themselves in position with offensive rebounds and a key steal by LaFrentz.

"Every time there's a game down the stretch, we give up big shots and big rebounds," Ilgauskas said. "I gave up a big rebound to LaFrentz. Down the stretch, it seems like we can't score or put teams away. When you make that kind of mistake on the road, it hurts you."

Miller stopped the Cavs' drought with a basket for a four-point deficit with 1:09 left. The Cavs wouldn't score again.

"We're a young team and we made young mistakes again," said Cavs coach John Lucas. "We missed two rebounds, which were bad shots by them, and they got two layups out of them and that ended up being the game."

Miller sat until the last 3:51 of the fourth quarter. He showed early signs of snapping out of his shooting slump with 10 first-quarter points. Miller finished the game 6-of-18 from the field. He's 23-of-72 from the field in his last six games.

"I have to continue to work with Andre in late game situations," Lucas said. "It's a great growth year for him and he's getting better. He sat out for most of the fourth because Bimbo was playing so well."

Ilgauskas and Coles started the second quarter. The Cavs stretched their two-point first-quarter lead to 38-34 following Ilgauskas' short jumper with 6:22 left before the half. The Nuggets, paced by Van Exel, stormed through the Cavs' defense. A 6-0 run, capped by Van Exel's reverse layup, gave the Nuggets a 40-38 lead.

The Cavs briefly regained the lead following Coles' layup and free throw at 41-40. The Nuggets jumped to a three-point lead, but Coles, who scored nine points during the second, converted another three-point play to tie the score at 46 with 1:09 left before halftime. Denver closed out the half with a 52-48 lead.

Van Exel led the Denver with 16 first-half points and LaFrentz had 14. Murray scored 10 for the Cavs and Bryant Stith had a season-high five rebounds during the half.