Surging Hawks clinch win over depleted Nuggets

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Atlanta Hawks built a 25-point second half lead and held off the short-handed Denver Nuggets to record a 104-93 home victory on Tuesday, with Joe Johnson scoring 22 points.

The Nuggets played the game a day after team mate Nene underwent surgery to remove a testicular tumor and were without Kenyon Martin, who was suffering from a staphylococcus infection.

Marvin Williams scored 19 points and Josh Childress 17 as the Hawks got back to the .500 mark at 17-17.

"We came out on fire again tonight," Hawks coach Mike Woodson told reporters.

"We had a great first half, a total team effort across the board. I thought our defensive coverages were right on the money again tonight."

Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points and had 11 rebounds and Allen Iverson scored 27 points in leading the Nuggets, who were 25 points down in the third quarter.

They got as close as eight points down with 1:50 to play but could get no closer.

"Carmelo and A.I. (Iverson) still had big games," Woodson said. "But those are guys you're not going to stop. You have to slow them down, and try to cut off some of the supporting cast."

Iverson and team mate J.R. Smith were both ejected from the game with 38.9 seconds remaining when Iverson argued a call and was sent off.

Smith then continued the argument and tossed his jersey and headband into the crowd as he left.

"Those calls mattered. It was the end of the game," said Iverson.

Woodson added: "I thought, overall, that was a solid performance tonight from our team."

* LeBron James scored 25 of his season-high 51 points in the fourth quarter and overtime when the Cleveland Cavaliers secured a 132-124 road win over the Memphis Grizzlies. James also had nine assists and eight rebounds in matching Iverson's NBA high game for the season.

* Richard Hamilton fired home 39 points and the Detroit Pistons posted a 103-89 home victory over the Toronto Raptors.

* Jamal Crawford scored 29 points and the New York Knicks won consecutive games for only the third time this season when they beat the visiting Washington Wizards 105-93. Caron Butler had 24 for the Wizards, who were coming off two successive wins over the Boston Celtics.

* Rashard Lewis scored 26 points and Dwight Howard had 15 points and 11 rebounds to power the Orlando Magic to a 102-88 home triumph over the Chicago Bulls.

(Writing by Mike Shalin, editing by Martin Petty)