CLEVELAND — In the locker room at halftime, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown forced his players to watch a horror flick — highlights of their defense in the first half.

"We were watching film and it was as ugly as it looked," Mo Williams said.

After allowing 61 points in a first-half track meet, the Cavaliers buckled down, held Denver to 38 after halftime and won their sixth straight, 110-99, over the Nuggets last night.

"The first team that decided to defend in the second half was going to get the win," Brown said. "And we did. The first half was a rat race. R-A-T, R-A-C-E."

LeBron James scored 22 points, most of them coming with good buddy Carmelo Anthony guarding him, and Williams scored a season-high 24, making a critical 3-pointer with James on the bench, as the Cavaliers improved to 5-0 at home and beat the Nuggets for the first time since 2005.

"It looked like it was headed in the wrong direction in the first half, but we buckled down in the second and got it together," said James said, who added 11 assists and eight rebounds.

Denver lost for the first time in four games since acquiring Chauncey Billups in the blockbuster trade that sent Allen Iverson to Detroit.

Billups scored a season-high 26 points — 16 in the first quarter — Anthony had 18 and Kenyon Martin 12 with 10 rebounds for Denver.

Martin, who had missed the previous two games with a sprained wrist, was ejected with 55 seconds left after he was called for a flagrant-2 foul for slamming his shoulder into Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao.

BULLS 98, MAVERICKS 91

CHICAGO — Ben Gordon scored 35 points, Luol Deng added 20, and Chicago roared back from an early 19-point deficit to send Dallas to its fourth straight loss.

Dallas blew out to a 24-5 lead less than six minutes into the game before Chicago recovered for a 51-50 halftime lead.

PISTONS 107, WARRIORS 102

OAKLAND, Calif. — Allen Iverson scored 23 points and Rasheed Wallace hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help Detroit hold off Golden State.

Wallace finished with a season-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Richard Hamilton led Detroit with 24 points, with many coming from the line down the stretch.

OVER AND BACK

Kings: The NBA fined Sacramento coach Reggie Theus $25,000 for comments he made about the officiating following a loss to Detroit. Theus said it was "ridiculous" that the Pistons took 36 fouls shots to just 17 for the Kings. The league also penalized the Kings $25,000 for Theus' actions.