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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Trailing by one point, the Memphis Grizzlies had no timeouts and little time. For the oldest player in the NBA, the obstacles were simply a welcome challenge.Thirty-nine-year-old Vince Carter tossed a perfectly timed, and expertly lobbed, inbounds pass to 7-footer Marc Gasol and he dropped in a shot as the buzzer sounded to lift the Grizzlies to a 108-107 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.Gasols basket came over Emmanuel Mudiay on a high-arcing pass from Carter underneath the Memphis goal. When Carter inbounded the ball there were 0.7 seconds left.I had progressions, I had a couple of options, but I just had to be patient while still keeping the 5-second violation in mind, Carter said. Its a stressful situation, but Ive been in it before. I know how to relax and take my time.Carter scored 20 points, while Gasol had 19 for the Grizzlies, who had lost two straight. Zach Randolph added 16 points.Mudiay had 23 points and Danilo Gallinari added 21 for the Nuggets.Mudiay appeared to have led the Nuggets to a victory when he stripped the ball from Mike Conley and converted a fastbreak layup with 7.9 seconds left. Memphis James Ennis followed with an errant pass out of bounds.But Conley came up with a steal in the closing seconds and drove the length of the court before the ball was knocked out of bounds by Denver with 0.7 seconds to go.That set the stage for the Carter-to-Gasol game-winner.The play was executed to perfection, Carter said. I just wanted to put it up there where only Marc could get it and let him take care of the rest.Gasol said the key to the play was the experience of CarterThe guy guarding the inbounds pass jumped too early, Gasol said. That opened up the passing angle and Vince made a great pass.Mudiay said he didnt know what the breakdown defensively was on the game-winning shot by Gasol.It just happens sometimes, Mudiay said. Some games end like that, some games dont end like that.The Grizzlies went up 83-76 early in the fourth quarter on a twisting layup by Jarell Martin and led by 95-88 following a driving layup by Andrew Harrison midway through the quarter.But the Nuggets battled back to take their first lead of the final period, 99-98, on a 3-pointer by Nikola Jokic, with 4:27 left.The lead changed hands six times in closing 5 minutes.We make it interesting, dont we? Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said. Im just really proud of my guys handling adversity. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, but they just kept staying with it. They stayed in the moment.The game was 56-all at the half. Denver shot 54 percent and outrebounded Memphis 23-17 to overcome 10 turnovers. Those Nuggets mistakes led to 16 Grizzlies points.Memphis fell behind by seven points in the opening minutes, but recovered behind a 12-0 run in which free-agent pickup Chandler Parsons, playing in only his second game, scored his first points of the season. Parsons went 0 for 8 in Sundays game against Portland, but had consecutive layups in a 26-second span of the first quarter.The Grizzlies built a 42-35 lead midway through the second quarter before the Nuggets closed to tie the game.TIP-INSNuggets: G Will Barton, who played at the University of Memphis, did not play because of an ankle injury. ... Wilson Chandler participated in parts of Tuesdays shootaround, but did not play. He is recovering from a left hamstring injury.Grizzlies: G Tony Allen was placed on the inactive list before the game with a right groin injury. ... Gasol entered the game having made a 3-pointer in each of the teams seven games, but he missed his only attempt. He had nine 3-pointers in those seven games after having made 12 in his first eight seasons. ... The Grizzlies started their sixth different lineup in eight games.TURNAROUNDThe Grizzlies entered the game ranked last in the NBA in field goal percentage, but shot 51.2 percent. The Grizzlies scored 58 points in the paint.OLDIE BUT GOODIECarter became the oldest player in the NBA to post a 20-point game since Michael Jordan scored 25 for the Washington Wizards in April 2003, at age 40.UP NEXTNuggets: Denver returns home after a five-game trip to play the Warriors, whose two-time MVP Stephen Curry set a league record with 13 3-pointers en route to a 46-point effort against the Pelicans Monday night.Grizzlies: Memphis plays Saturday at Milwaukee, following what amounts to an early season All-Star break -- three straight days off. Milwaukee is 3-1 at home and the Grizzlies are 0-2 on the road. Custom Colorado Rockies Jerseys . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. Colorado Rockies Shirts .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. https://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.us/ . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Stitched Rockies Jerseys .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Rockies Jerseys China . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Brees hopes the world watches what happens in and around the Superdome on Monday night.As the Saints host the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans will mark the 10-year anniversary of the reopening of the hulking, 73,000-seat stadium on Sept. 25, 2006, following its unprecedented 10-month restoration from extensive damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.Brees figures coverage of the game will resonate with people he met this summer from flood-ravaged areas of West Virginia, when the Saints held training camp there -- or with Louisiana residents whose communities around Baton Rouge were inundated last month.So many of those people, right when it happens to you, just cant fathom ever being able to come back from that, Brees said. New Orleans is a great example and symbol of how it can come back when you have this community that bands together and continues to press on.The handful of current Saints who were on the team in 2006 -- Brees, right guard Jahri Evans, right tackle Zach Strief and safety Roman Harper -- dont anticipate an atmosphere as electric and cathartic as a decade ago. Several said it would be impossible to contrive the raw, communal emotion that poured forth during a game played just 13 months after Katrina had transformed a community renowned for its joie de vivre into a sea of devastation.And nothing could replicate the thunderous, drink-spilling frenzy that erupted when then-special teams standout Steve Gleason blocked a punt that Curtis Deloatch recovered for a Saints touchdown. That play -- widely regarded as the most memorable in franchise history -- is immortalized in a statue just outside the dome.Still, they expect this Monday night to be special in its own way.As you begin to highlight the specific elements around New Orleans that have come back even stronger than they were prior to the storm, thats a great story to tell, Brees said. Its a very uplifting story.The Superdome, one of Americas most famous sporting arenas long before Katrina, became a poignant symbol of destruction, suffering and loss when Katrina hit. Its expansive white roof was torn up, exposing evacuees inside to falling debris and water pouring in -- all while rising water in surrounding streets turned the stadiums elevated public plaza into an island of desperation.It took nearly four days to evacuate more than 30,000 people who took refuge at the stadium. They spent three-plus days in increasingly squalid, dank conditions after plumbing and power systems failed. The air was hot, heavy and stifling, overpowering the senses with the stench of perspiration, backed-up sewage, and festering mildew and mold.Doug Thornton, a New Orleans-based executive for SMG, which manages the Superdome, was in the stadium until those stranded were evacuated by bus or helicopter.Thornton recalled feeling helpless and so sorrowful as he left the dome and boarded a helicopter, which flew over his own devastated neighborhood near the breached 17th Street Canal.Then I looked back over my shoulder and saw the dome in the background and could see the water glistening for miles, Thornton said. I saw that roof ripped apart and I knew what Id left behind and I couldnt imagine that we could ever recover.Thornton figured the dome might be a demolition candidate. Architects later advised him it could be saved. Then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue informed Thornton that the league wanted the stadium restored enough for football by the 2006 season, which would require crews working long hours, six to seven days a week.The Saints played their home preseason games in Jackson, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana.dddddddddddd They opened the 2006 regular season with two road games, winning both, further fueling excitement about the domes reopening.Players already had gotten a sense of how unique their home opener would be two nights before the game, when coach Sean Payton brought players to the dome for a walk-through. Payton gathered players near midfield to watch a short video which featured residents rebuilding amid devastated streetscapes, welcoming the Saints home and thanking them for being back.Forget sports for a while. Theres a period of time where just life as New Orleanians knew it, or Louisiana residents knew it -- how would that be affected? Payton recalled this week. So you have this event that coincides with the opening of an area that was used to shelter people. There were a ton of things that were unreal about it.Evans said the Saints were moved by the video and the hardship theyd witnessed around town.We wanted to play hard. We wanted to play tough, Evans said. We wanted to give the fans something to be proud of.Rock bands U2 and Green Day, eager to celebrate the rebirth of a city with a renowned musical history, joined to sing The Saints Are Coming in a Super Bowl-like production before the game.Thornton, whod noticed some fans crying as they entered the dome, said he wept, too, when the music began. When the house lights went down, the lighting was similar to when the building was on emergency power during the storm. Thornton noticed he was standing near the same section he and his staff had scurried people out of when the roof tore open above it during Katrina.I saw these people standing and cheering, Thornton recalled, and all could visualize were people huddled under blankets shielding themselves from the rain.Strief was not in uniform that night, but was on the sideline.Usually in a game like that, the attention and focus and importance in that building is on the field -- and it wasnt that night, Strief said. The people in there that night were a bigger deal.Brees and Strief said they remember the sound of the blocked punt -- the ball squarely hitting Gleasons hand. Brees compared it to a shotgun blast, followed the crowd roaring so loud, Strief said, that you could feel physically the energy and the noise.Gleason, who retired in 2008, was diagnosed several years later with ALS, or Lou Gehrigs Disease, which causes paralysis. Now wheelchair-bound, he is arguably known more globally for his activism on behalf of those stricken with neuro-muscular diseases than he was for football.Yet his punt block that cemented his place in New Orleans lore. He was popular before Katrina because of how he embraced New Orleans. He was dating a local woman who he would ultimately marry. And as he sat at his locker after the game, he said the play gave him infinite joy.Sometimes, people think the future of New Orleans is in doubt, and were just here to help people create a bright future, Gleason said that night. Ive got a lot of connections here. Ive got people here that I know and love, and that was our goal, is to come out, man, and provide joy for those people -- and thats exactly what we did.It cant get any better than that, Gleason continued, and Im just real grateful that I could be a part of it.----AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '