DENVER (AP) -- With a six-game road trip looming and the NBA's

worst team limping into town, this had all the makings of a game

Denver might not have been ready for.

The Nuggets weren't. They wound up having to fight to the finish

Tuesday night for a 125-116 victory over the Atlanta Hawks that

caused coach George Karl to question his team's character.

"I think great teams have a professional attitude, and it

doesn't matter who you are playing," Karl said. "We don't do

that. We play down to our (competition) sometimes, and we get bored

with playing well."

Andre Miller had 21 points and 14 assists, Carmelo Anthony had

26 points and Marcus Camby had 24 points, 12 rebounds and two key

blocks down the stretch. Denver needed all that, plus 20 points

from Earl Boykins, plus a shutdown defensive performance from Greg

Buckner in the fourth quarter to move back over the .500 mark, at

10-9

"It's a win and it goes on your record," was the nicest thing

Karl could say about it.

Al Harrington had a season-high 35 points for Atlanta.

The Hawks (2-15) came into the game with the league's worst

record and showed up only about 90 minutes before tip-off after

getting slowed down by a Rocky Mountain snowstorm -- not the typical

equation for the competitive, run-and-gun game this turned out to

be.

But with 1:30 left, the Hawks rebounded Anthony's miss and had a

chance to tie. Josh Childress (14 points) drove into the paint and

tried to get a shot off, but Camby blocked it into Anthony's hands

and he passed to Boykins, who converted a three-point play to make

it 121-116.

On Atlanta's next possession, Camby swatted Harrington's shot

and Miller made a layup on the other end to seal the win.

Next comes Denver's first major road trip of the season, an

Eastern swing that starts Friday at Miami.

"Coach got on us at halftime about our approach and let us know

that we have a six-game road trip coming up and we need to play

better," Camby said. "I don't think we took a major step toward

that, but we did get it going a little."

Indeed, there was more to worry about than celebrate after this

one.

Among the key issues -- Kenyon Martin, who left at halftime with

a sore left knee and didn't return.

To add to the angst, the Hawks weren't even at full strength.

They were missing starter Josh Smith, who served the first of a

two-game suspension for elbowing Raja Bell of the Suns in the head

in a game Sunday.

"We missed him a lot," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "We

missed his shot-blocking."

Even without him, Atlanta was in it all the way through this

one.

Tyronn Lue finished with 16 points and eight assists and made a

pair of 3-pointers late in the third to keep the Hawks within

striking range. Royal Ivey played scrappy ball and finished with 14

points.

Meanwhile, Harrington was unstoppable at times -- posting up,

hitting 3s and dominating the game, especially in a third-quarter

stretch in which he scored nine straight for the Hawks to keep them

within five points.

"We never look like a team with our record," Harrington said.

"We come out and fight. We might have had two games when we

didn't. We compete and fight to the end. But we have to start

winning these games to show growth."

The Hawks never could take the lead, in part because of the

defensive play of Buckner. Inserted into the starting lineup to

provide a spark, Buckner did most of his damage in the fourth

quarter, making three steals and stopping Atlanta's momentum time

and again.

His first pick came with about 8 minutes left. He got a

three-point play off that to put Denver ahead 105-96. He made two

more later in the period and was also largely responsible for

holding Joe Johnson, Atlanta's leading scorer this season, to only

nine points. Then, midway through the fourth, he volunteered to

cover Harrington and shut him down, too.

Another big difference: Denver went 19-for-20 from the free

throw line in the fourth quarter, compared to 4-for-6 for Atlanta,

a prime example of good teams making plays and getting calls that

poorer ones don't in crunch time.

"I don't know what I can do," Woodson said. "I think we get

fouled and there's no calls. I don't know what you can do. It's

ridiculous if you ask me."Game notes
The Hawks fell to 0-8 when Smith is not in the starting

lineup. ... Anthony passed Mike Evans for 22nd on the Nuggets

all-time scoring list.