It's been a frustrating few days for the Charlotte Bobcats, who have been unable to build off their surprising win over one of the NBA's best teams last week.

The Bobcats continue their difficult stretch Monday when they host the Denver Nuggets.

On Wednesday, Charlotte (13-23) shocked the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics in Boston, 95-83, but then dropped consecutive games against the top two teams in the Central division, losing 113-106 in double overtime to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, then suffering a 103-100 overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.

The Bobcats now face the Northwest Division-leading Nuggets (22-13), who have won four of five and seven of nine, including a 113-103 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday. Carmelo Anthony had 32 points and 11 rebounds, and Allen Iverson had 21 points and 13 assists.

But it was the play of Anthony Carter, who matched a career high with 21 points - 14 in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets outscored the Magic 29-17 - and also had 11 assists that keyed the victory.

"A.C. came up big, but he's been making big plays for us all year," said Iverson, who had five rebounds to give him 3,000. "It's something we expect. We pretty much expect everyone to make plays. On different nights, it's different guys. Tonight, it was A.C. He did a great job. He got us over the hump."

Denver, which is the league's fourth highest-scoring team at 106.9 points per game, has averaged 113.8 the last four games. Iverson has averaged 31.0 points in that stretch, and averaging 31.4 points in seven career games against the Bobcats - highlighted by two 40-point efforts.

Charlotte, which has the third-worst record in the East, doesn't get much relief in its schedule after this game. The Bobcats host the Southeast-leading Orlando Magic on Wednesday, then visit the surprising New Orleans Hornets on Friday.

The Bobcats had a chance to win Saturday, but Emeka Okafor was called with a basket interference call with 1.5 seconds left that wiped out a go-ahead basket.

"To me it was completely legal play," coach Sam Vincent said. "It's very disappointing for me to have our guys be so underhanded and fight so hard to win a game and have it taken away by a whistle."

Gerald Wallace scored 26 points to lead five Bobcats players in double figures. Jason Richardson added 20, while Okafor and Nazr Mohammed each had 19.

Denver and Charlotte split the two meetings last season, with each winning on the road. The Nuggets are 2-1 in Charlotte, and 4-2 overall.

The Nuggets announced on Friday that Nene has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the team to take care of a personal medical issue. The Nuggets wouldn't comment further. Nene missed 22 games earlier this season after surgery on his left thumb. The power forward is averaging 6.4 points in 12 games, down from a career-high 12.2 points last season.

"He's family," Iverson said. "Life is way more important than the game of basketball. We just want him to get his situation straightened and get back to the team as soon as possible. He needs to take care of himself first."