Nuggets go retro with Moe’s return

DENVER - It was almost like he never left.

Running, cutting, pushing the pace, the Denver Nuggets made it seem like old times Wednesday night, defeating the Boston Celtics 107-86 to give Doug Moe a win in his first game back on the bench as George Karl’s new assistant.

“It was like agony at first,” Moe said. “No butterflies. It’s different. You start yelling and my throat was bothering

me.”

Andre Miller scored 22 points, Carmelo Anthony had 19, and Kenyon Martin had 18 points and 13 rebounds to help lift the Nuggets, who began the night four games behind the Lakers for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Seeking some help on the bench, Karl persuaded Moe, his old North Carolina buddy and the winningest coach in Nuggets history, to sit by him for the final 29 games of the season. Moe agreed — “because I’m stupid, or something like that,” he said — and the Nuggets played a lot like they did when he was coaching them to 432 victories from 1980-90.

Moving the ball in the halfcourt and pushing it whenever they could, they had 29 points after one quarter, 57 at halftime and 94 after three, the last three coming on a 30-footer by DerMarr Johnson at the buzzer.

“I think the word is ‘pace,’ ” Karl said. “The pace of the game tonight was great. I want pace to be an intimidating factor. Doug is the best coach I’ve ever seen do that.”

Moe’s old Nuggets scored 120 on most nights, and while that might be asking too much in this era, there was no denying this was a more entertaining version of this team than fans had seen most of the season.

Miller was the sparkplug, scoring 12 of his points in the first quarter and also finishing with six assists.

“It’s attitude and aggressiveness. He took chances,” Karl said. “I’d rather see us aggressive and crazy than conservative and boring.”

NEXT

Denver (25-29) at Memphis (30-24), 6 p.m. Friday, ALT (Ch. 54), 1300 AM, 950 AM