Dikembe Mutombo

Larry Johnson scored five of his 20 points in the second overtime as the Charlotte Hornets scored the last six points to defeat the Denver Nuggets, 119-112. Dell Curry scored 20 points, Matt Geiger added 16 and Robert Parish had 15 and 17 rebounds for Charlotte, which won its second straight game and pulled even with the Miami Heat for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Geiger and Johnson grabbed 13 rebounds apiece for the Hornets, who won their third straight meeting with the Nuggets. "This is a big win, especially in Denver because they are tough at home," the 42-year-old Parish said. "Hopefully we can keep our momentum going. I've been resting up for a couple of years entering tonight." "We had a couple of tremendous plays and a tremendous gut effort," Hornets coach Allan Bristow said. "We played hard. There were big plays in regulation and both overtimes. Johnson ran down a big rebound in overtime and "The Chief" (Parish) even got into it. He went to the fountain (of youth)." Dikembe Mutombo had an N-B-A-season-high 31 rebounds and 16 points, Antonio McDyess scored 23 points and Jalen Rose added 19 for Denver, which lost for the sixth time in seven games and temporarily remains 2 1/2 games behind the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors. Embattled Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who was expected to make his first home appearance since being suspended without pay for refusing to stand at attention during the national anthem on March 12th, did not play due to a right foot injury. Abdul-Rauf sat on the bench in his street clothes after missing the anthem. After Dale Ellis hit a three-pointer and Rose made a layup to give the Nuggets a 110-108 lead with 1:30 left in the second overtime, Kenny Anderson hit a three-pointer to hand the Hornets a 111-110 edge. Johnson's lay-in gave Charlotte a 113-110 advantage with one minute remaining before McDyess dunked to pull Denver within 113-112. But the Nuggets didn't score again as Johnson made a jumper with 17 seconds left to ignite the game-sealing stretch for the Hornets. Curry and Rice added two free throws apiece. After Don MacLean made two free throws to give the Nuggets a 105-102 edge with 17 seconds left in the first overtime, Rice forced the second overtime with a three-pointer with 4.2 seconds to go. Curry's jumper with three seconds left tied the game at 95-95 before Stith's midcourt heave at the buzzer missed, forcing the first overtime. Rice added eight rebounds for Charlotte, which shot 40 per cent (41-of-103) from the field but committed just 10 turnovers. Mutombo's career-high rebound total tied a franchise record set by Spencer Haywood on November 13th, 1969, when the Nuggets were in the A-B-A. Mutombo, whose previous high was 26 boards on November 11th, 1994 against the Los Angeles Lakers, had a league season-high 23 defensive rebounds, eclipsing the previous standard of 20 set by Patrick Ewing against Vancouver on January 20th.