1.9°C Sunny 
Aaron Brooks hit a clutch shot to help keep the Houston Rockets' desperate late drive for the playoffs going.
Brooks hit a jumper with 2.9 seconds left and scored 31 points to help the Rockets rally for a 125-123 victory over Denver on Monday night, snapping the Nuggets' six-game winning streak.
Brooks split two free throws before Denver's Carmelo Anthony drove past Shane Battier for a layup to tie it 123-123. Brooks then dribbled around Anthony Carter and hit the go-ahead shot from the right of the free throw line.
"I wanted to get some space first," Brooks said. "I knew it wasn't going to be all the way to the rim. I thought it would probably be a floater before I got to the rim. I tried to get open and get a shot off."
Anthony scored 45 points for the Nuggets, but missed a three-point try at the buzzer. Luis Scola grabbed the final rebound and finished with 23 points and 11 boards.
Houston, now five games behind Portland in the race for the last Western Conference playoff spot, has won three in a row for the first time since mid-December.
"We don't have much room for error," said Scola, who was coming off a career-high, 44-point game. "It's only like a month away, the end of the season, so we need to win games."
Elsewhere in the NBA it was: Boston 119 Detroit 93; Utah 112 Washington 89; New York 94 Philadelphia 84; Los Angeles Lakers 124 Golden State 121; and New Orleans 108 Los Angeles Clippers 100.
At Houston, Scola converted a key three-point play with 41 seconds remaining to put Houston ahead 122-121.
Kevin Martin scored 29 points for Houston. Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith added 17 apiece for the Nuggets.
The Nuggets led 104-93 with 10 minutes left in the game after trailing by as much as 16 in the first half. Battier's corner three with 8:05 left capped a 7-0 spurt to draw the Rockets within four.
Anthony was concerned with how the Nuggets played down the stretch of Monday's game.
"I don't think we'll be able to get away with that, come playoff time," he said. "That's something that's fixable and we need to do it quick."
The Rockets couldn't crack the four-point deficit until Scola swished a jumper from the wing with 3:25 to go to cut it to 115-113.
Denver stretched the lead to five, but couldn't put away Houston. Trevor Ariza's three-pointer with 1:09 left made it 121-119, Arron Afflalo missed a three and Scola rebounded. He got the ball to Brooks, then charged down the lane for a tying layup. Billups fouled out on the play and Scola hit the ensuing free throw to put the Rockets ahead.
"The last couple of games, I think we played great," Scola said. "Today, we fought."
Until then, Anthony and the Nuggets seemed to have the game in hand.
Houston led by 11 at the half, but Billups sank consecutive three-pointers early in the third quarter to get the Nuggets going. His tip-in with 4:36 left tied it 83-83 and Anthony made a three-pointer 30 seconds later to give Denver its first lead of the game.
Anthony scored 11 in the third quarter, then knocked down a three, a baseline jumper and a straight-on jumper in the first two minutes of the fourth to stretch Denver's lead to double digits.
The Rockets shot 59 per cent (23-of-39) in one of their best first halves of the season to lead 68-57 at the break.
Houston hit 13 of its first 17 shots, many of them layups, and generated 10 fast-break points in the first nine minutes to lead 32-20.
Denver rallied after Houston coach Rick Adelman went to his bench early in the second quarter. The Rockets gave away three turnovers in the first three minutes, and J.R. Smith scored six quick points to cut the Nuggets' deficit to six.
Martin returned with 9:37 left in the half and scored seven points during a 16-6 spurt to push the lead to 58-42. Denver botched simple layups early and Nene missed a one-handed dunk try with 4:24 remaining in the half.
Anthony had 19 points at the break, despite going 7-for-16 from the field.
"I was just trying to be aggressive," Anthony said. "First half, Shane was playing a game with my face. Once I figured that out, it was just my natural rhythm."
Celtics 119 Pistons 93
At Boston, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Michael Finley scored 15 points apiece, and Kevin Garnett had 14 points and eight rebounds to help the Celtics coast to a victory over Detroit.
-
Jazz 112 Wizards 89
At Salt Lake City, Carlos Boozer scored 23 points, Deron Williams notched his 35th double-double of the season, and Utah ended a two-game losing streak by beating Washington.
-
Knicks 94 76ers 84
At Philadelphia, Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points, Toney Douglas added 20 and New York won its second straight on the road by rallying past the struggling 76ers.
-
Lakers 124 Warriors 121
At Oakland, Calif., Kobe Bryant scored 29 points and Pau Gasol added 26 to lead Los Angeles to its ninth straight victory over Golden State.
-
Hornets 108 Clippers 100
At Los Angeles, David West scored 24 points and New Orleans snapped a seven-game road losing streak, completing a four-game season sweep of the Clippers.
