NBA teams
OKC

98

12-18
Final
DEN

112

16-10
RecapBox Score
1 2 3 4 T
OKC 27 29 20 22 98
DEN 35 25 25 27 112
Ball Arena, Denver
17y

Iverson, Boykins drown Sonics as Karl hits milestone

Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder

DENVER (AP) -- George Karl couldn't have drawn up his 800th win
any better -- playing short-handed, making up plays on the fly in
timeouts, inclement weather outside.

This was his kind of game. That's why the Nuggets coach was all
smiles after getting his milestone victory in Denver's 112-98 win
over the Seattle SuperSonics -- his former team -- on Thursday night.

Elias Says
George Karl
Karl

George Karl become the 12th NBA coach to reach the 800-victory mark when the Nuggets recorded a 112-98 victory over the Sonics -- a team for which Karl posted a 384-150 record from 1992 to 1998. He was the fourth of those 12 coaches to earn his 800th victory against a team he had previously coached. The others were Jack Ramsay against the Clippers (1987), Dick Motta against the Wizards (1987), and Larry Brown against the Clippers (2001).

• For more Elias Says, click here

Karl was handed a Denver jersey with No. 800 on it along with
the game ball after beating the Sonics to become only the 12th
coach in NBA history to reach the 800-win mark.

"Tonight's game was fun because I thought from the minute they
went on the court they thought they were going to win the game,"
said Karl, who's 800-555 in 19 seasons. "Coach (Dean) Smith told
me a long time ago that if you can't accept that players win and
coaches lose, then don't get into coaching. You can be the greatest
coach in the world, but if you don't have players, you aren't going
to win in the NBA."

Karl has a superstar in Allen Iverson, who finished with 44
points and 10 assists. Iverson had his highest-scoring game since
being acquired by Denver in a trade with Philadelphia on Dec. 19.
His season high is 46 against Chicago on Nov. 24.

"He's good," Karl said. "He's better than I thought and I
thought he was (darn) good."

After coming out of the lineup with 1:04 remaining, Iverson and
Karl had a brief conversation and then a quick hug.

"To be a part of something like that is something to cherish,"
Iverson said. "It was an honor to help him get that win."

Nothing the Sonics did worked against Iverson. He's now scored
40 or more points in 77 career games, which ties Oscar Robertson
for fourth in NBA history.

"He was something," Seattle coach Bob Hill said.

Karl doesn't take any added satisfaction that the win came
against a Seattle team that ran him off after the 1997-98 season.
Karl said he no longer has any bitterness toward the franchise he
helped lead to the NBA finals in 1996.

"This win against Seattle is special because Seattle was a big
part of my career," Karl said.

He even improvised a couple of times during the game, making up
plays and watching them work to perfection.

"This team just thinks it's going to win even being
undermanned," he said.

Karl's first win was Nov. 15, 1984, against Atlanta when he was
coaching Cleveland. He'd started the season 0-9 and never thought
he'd reach this type of accomplishment.

"When I first started, I thought 250 (games) would be great,"
he said. "I thought 250 and you'd retire into a college job and
coach into the sunset."

Earl Boykins added 24 points, and Reggie Evans had a season-high
18 rebounds for the Nuggets.

Damien Wilkins matched his career high with 26 points, and Luke
Ridnour finished with 16 points for the Sonics.

"We just wanted to get out of here tonight," Wilkins said.

Both teams did. Another major snowstorm blanketed Denver on
Thursday and the Nuggets and Sonics both made dashes for the
airport after the game to get out of town for their road games
Friday night. The Nuggets will play in Oklahoma City, and Seattle
will travel to Minnesota.

Seattle star Ray Allen didn't make the trip to Denver after his
fiancee gave birth to a boy Wednesday, but may rejoin the team
Friday night in Minnesota. Allen has been bothered by a right ankle
injury that's kept him out of three of the last five games.

Denver's Marcus Camby missed his third straight game with a
fractured right finger on his shooting hand. With Nene out as well
with a right knee injury, the Nuggets gave Jamal Sampson his third
career start. He finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Denver used its fourth different lineup in four games since
Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith were suspended for their roles in a
brawl against the New York Knicks on Dec. 16. Denver is 3-1 without
Anthony and Smith.

"There's not a whole bunch of pressure," Iverson said of being
short-handed. "I just feel like all of us are going to have to do
it together. It's going to be a team effort."

Game notes
Karl was 384-150 in 6½ seasons with the Sonics. ...
Seattle's Chris Wilcox received his second technical for arguing a
call with 18.3 seconds left in the third quarter and was ejected.
He finished with nine points and seven rebounds. ... Denver is 11-1
this season when scoring 110 or more points.

^ Back to Top ^