Chandler has 16 as Nuggets beat Celtics

Former Knick Wilson Chandler had 16 points and the Nuggets ended the game with a 16-0 run in an 89-75 victory over the Celtics Thursday night in Denver.

In the first game for the four Knicks who became Nuggets in the trade for Carmelo Anthony, Chandler shot 5-for-9 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, and had five rebounds in 25:21 off the bench.

Danilo Gallinari started and had two points and four rebounds in 19:34. Raymond Felton came off the bench for four points, six assists and five rebounds in 27:50. Timofey Mozgov did not play.

Kenyon Martin led the Nuggets with 18 points.

Paul Pierce had 17 points and Kevin Garnett added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics.

The game pitted two teams that reshaped their rosters ahead of the NBA trade deadline. The Nuggets had a bunch of new players and the Celtics a bunch of empty seats along their bench after a flurry of trades that unloaded a bunch of big men.

The Celtics suited up only nine players and had to fight through the emotions of losing center Kendrick Perkins, who was dealt to Oklahoma City for forward Jeff Green in the biggest of Boston's trio of trades Thursday.

The Nuggets, who are 2-0 since trading Anthony, had their full complement of players, but their best defender, Martin, missed the second quarter while getting an IV in the locker room.

Chandler, Gallinari and Felton got off to a slow start, combining to shoot 2-for-12 in the first half, which ended with Denver ahead 37-36.

Pierce hit a three-pointer with 61/2 minutes remaining to give Boston a 75-73 lead, but the Celtics wouldn't score again.

Chandler's three-pointer put Denver ahead for good and Martin's three-point play with 3:03 left gave Denver its biggest lead to that point at 79-75.

The Eastern Conference-leading Celtics also dealt reserve Nate Robinson to the Thunder and received Nenad Krstic, a future first-round draft pick and cash in the deal that was approved by the NBA about five hours after Thursday's trade deadline.

Earlier in the day, the Celtics acquired draft picks by sending forward Luke Harangody and rookie center Semih Erden to Cleveland and injured swingman Marquis Daniels to Sacramento.

With such a short bench for coach Doc Rivers to work with, the Celtics called up center Chris Johnson from the D-League, signed him to a 10-day contract and put him right to work.

"We had him in camp. So he'll play tonight," Rivers said. "He won't know what he's doing, but he'll be out there. He'll be out there early. We needed the body and he can play a little bit. He was playing terrific in the D-League."

Johnson scored six points in 16:51.

Perkins recently returned from a knee injury he suffered in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Once loaded with interior size, the Celtics now will have to hope Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal get healthy in time for the playoffs.

"Well, it's a key proponent of this,'' Rivers said. "We need to get Shaq healthy. Shaq will be healthy. But if Shaq plays great, then this deal was obviously really, really good for us. And that's on Shaq. Getting Shaq in great shape, getting him ready, getting him healthy is really going to be important for us in the playoffs."

The Nuggets are hoping to stay in the playoff hunt in the West after the megadeal that brought in Gallinari, Felton, Chandler and Mozgov from the Knicks and Kosta Koufos from Minnesota.

The five newcomers participated in one high-altitude practice and one shootaround before facing the Celtics, and Nuggets coach George Karl gave Gallinari the start over J.R. Smith. - AP