Basketball: Denver 101 Houston 86

Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson led Denver with 20 points apiece Sunday, elevating the Nuggets to a 101-86 win over Houston in a game with playoff implications. The Denver turned a close contest into a runaway with strong second half and finished the game shooting 49 percent from the floor. The two teams came into the match-up tied for the seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference, and the Nuggets' victory gave them sole possession of the seventh spot. The Rockets, meanwhile, maintained a tenuous half-game lead over ninth-place Phoenix after suffering their third consecutive defeat. Chase Budinger and Luis Scola each notched 19 points for Houston.