Nuggets pass Warriors

Kenyon Martin scored a season-high 30 points and the Denver Nuggets surged past the Golden State Warriors in the wild Western Conference playoff race with a 119-112 win Saturday night in Denver.

Martin also pulled down 11 rebounds, and J.R. Smith added 20 points off the bench, helping the Nuggets stave off a furious rally by the Warriors in the closing minutes.

The Nuggets moved one-half game ahead of the Warriors for the eighth and final playoff spot and pulled with one-half game of sliding Dallas for seventh place. The Mavericks visit the Warriors tonight.

Denver also won the all-important tiebreaker with the Warriors by virtue of its win and a better conference record.

Carmelo Anthony scored 25 for Denver on 11-of-16 shooting, but his fellow All-Star starter, Allen Iverson, went 4 for 20 from the field for 14 points.

Baron Davis led the Warriors with 28 points, but misfired twice on 3-pointers in the final minute.

Denver won its fifth straight and improved to 30-7 at home while handing the Warriors their fifth loss in nine games.

“Every game is important from here on out,” said Iverson. “We understand even if we got this one, we’ve got to concentrate on getting the next one. We’re not satisfied.”

Suns 110, Nets 104: At East Rutherford, N.J., Amare Stoudemire had 33 points and 15 rebounds and Phoenix moved into a first-place tie with the Los Angeles Lakers in the Pacific Division with a victory over New Jersey.

Leandro Barbosa added 21 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 17 points and seven rebounds as the Suns won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Pistons 85, Cavaliers 71: At Auburn Hills, Mich., Richard Hamilton returned to the lineup and scored 14 points, leading Detroit over Cleveland.

LeBron James had a lackluster night for the Cavaliers with 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting, five assists and five turnovers.

Bulls 114, Bucks 111: At Chicago, rookie Joakim Noah scored a season-high 18 points and had 15 rebounds to lead the Bulls over Milwaukee after nearly squandering a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Chicago pulled 31/2 games behind eighth-place Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Michael Redd scored 33 points to lead the Bucks.

Bobcats 93, Trail Blazers 85: At Portland, Emeka Okafor scored 21 points and Jason Richardson added 20 to lead Charlotte past the Trail Blazers.

Travis Outlaw scored 26 points to lead Portland.

Clippers 110, Grizzlies 97: At Los Angeles, rookie Al Thornton scored 20 of his career-high 39 points in the fourth quarter, Corey Maggette added 26 points, and the Clippers snapped a season-worst 10-game losing streak with a victory over Memphis.

Rider arrested

Former NBA player Isaiah Rider was jailed in Los Angeles for investigation of auto theft, police said.

The 37-year-old Rider was driving a car that failed to stop at an intersection about 2:30 a.m. in the city’s Skid Row district, Officer Norma Eisenman said.

Officers checking the license plates discovered the car had been reported stolen from South Los Angeles, and Rider was arrested, police said.

Rider played at UNLV before reaching the NBA in 1993. He ended his career in 2001.