The Portland Trail Blazers are finding the road more enjoyable lately.
Brandon Roy had 26 points and 11 assists and Channing Frye scored a season-high 20 points as Portland beat the Denver Nuggets 116-105 on Sunday night.
It was the Blazers' seventh straight win overall, and third straight victory on the road, where they had lost their first nine games of the season.
"We don't feel invincible, we feel comfortable and confident," Roy said. "Winning on the road is a sign of maturity."
Portland also ended a stretch of futility in Denver. The Blazers got their first win in Denver since Feb. 26, 2003, and snapped the Nuggets' nine-game home winning streak against Portland. Denver had won 15 of the last 17 meetings at home dating back to the 1999-2000 season.
"We've dropped a lot of monkeys this month," said Portland head coach Nate McMillan, whose team has beaten Utah twice in the past week.
The Blazers ended their losing ways in Denver with some hot shooting. They hit 55 percent of their shots, including a 10-for-13 performance by Frye.
"From the beginning to the end of the game they beat us up and down the court and did whatever they wanted to do on the offensive end," said Allen Iverson, who led Denver with 38 points. "They're playing with a lot of confidence having already won six in a row, and they just brought that momentum into here and they whipped us."
The Nuggets were hot early but cooled off in the second half when the Blazers stretched their 12-point halftime lead to 19 heading into the fourth quarter.
"We are getting shots from the work of other people," Frye said. "People are driving to the basket and leaving other people open. That's what is happening."
Carmelo Anthony struggled from the field again and finished with 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting, and Kenyon Martin had 14 for the Nuggets, who have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 21 before closing the gap in the fourth quarter. Iverson scored 16 points in the period, including a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 103-91 with 6:39 left.
The Blazers responded with a run of their own. Roy hit two layups and Travis Outlaw, who had 17 points, hit a couple of jumpers to increase the lead to 115-97 with 2:26 remaining.
"We expected we would be a good-shooting team from the start of the season," McMillan said. "We've been shooting the ball well during this stretch."
Portland made 58 percent of its shots in the first half and stayed hot from the field at the start of the third quarter. The Blazers went on an 11-0 run early in the second half -- capped by a 3-pointer from Steve Blake -- to extend their lead to 72-52 with 8:22 left.
"This team's been shooting the ball extremely well," Nuggets head coach George Karl said. "They've been finding a hot shooter almost every night."
Early, it was Frye who was hot. The forward scored 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting in the first quarter, and he also pulled down five rebounds for Portland, which took a 30-25 lead heading into the second quarter.
"Frye has shot the ball well the whole season," McMillan said. "Tonight he was on fire. He knocked down everything."
Game notes
The Nuggets had to move to the visitors locker room because of a fire in their locker room early Sunday morning. Karl said a dryer "blew up" in the home locker room around 2 a.m., and the fire department came in to put out a small fire. Karl said it could take up to two weeks for the water damage from the firemen's hoses to be repaired. In the meantime, road teams will use the NHL's visiting locker room. ... Blazers F LaMarcus Aldridge (plantar fasciitis) missed his fourth straight game. ... Portland had six players score in double figures. ... Roy's 11 assists tied a career high. The only other time he had 11 assists was Feb. 2, 2007, in Denver.
