Lawson and Afflalo combined for 47 points, while Andre Miller and Al Harrington added 33 off the bench as the Nuggets improved to 29-24 and up to seventh in the West.

While Denver couldn’t take advantage of Dwight Howard missing the game. The Orlando Magic couldn’t find an answer for Lawson or Afflalo.

Lawson has been playing at an All-Star level for the past week and on Sunday he couldn’t miss. The third-year point guard hit 10 of 16 shots, made two treys and added nine assists. His backcourt partner, Afflalo, also was pretty good. He hit 8 of 14 shots, made three treys and finished with 25 points.

Harrington was huge in the fourth quarter, scoring seven points to help the Nuggets go up 87-80 early in the quarter.

Miller had some baffling mistakes late, missed an ill-advised three-pointer and a late turnover. However, he did hit 3-of-4 free throws to seal the game.

Kenneth Faried, who was pretty quiet for most of the game on Sunday, had two key blocks in the fourth. Early on, Faried and the rest of the Nuggets bigs struggled against Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis. Davis had 18 points and 16 rebounds (nine offensive).

JaVale McGee really struggled in the contest. He scored the games first two points, but things went downhill quickly for the big man. He missed two free throws and got into foul trouble early after being called for an offensive foul in the first quarter. Things got worst in the second half. In the first four minutes of the half he had one his patented goaltends, three turnovers and a missed basket. He finished the game with two points, nine rebounds and five turnovers and minus-19. Just in time for the Denver Post to rave about his future with the Nuggets.

• Each team will play 66 games, 48 in conference and 18 non-conference games.
• Each team, in conference, will play six teams four times (2 home, 2 away), eight teams three times.
• Each team will face three non-conference teams twice, and the other 12 teams once (six home, six away).
• The regular season would end April 28, 2012.
• Each team will have to play back-to-back-to-back games at least once, and no more than three times.

With this setup, and the NBA’s effort to keep its marque games, there are reports that the Nuggets would still play the Knicks twice. Carmelo Anthony’s return to Denver on Nov. 17 was among the games that was canceled and it wouldn’t be out of the question for the League to keep that game on the schedule. (more…)