關於 state of play meaning ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

《我的幸福5/2 週末》

*週日下午兩點誠品信義書店「廿世紀典範人物」新書分享會，我下午二時開始演講，離上次在台灣大學公開演説。快半年了！分享會報名一小時預告已額滿，但TVBS電視台慷慨的支持。派出SNG車，屆時TVBS文茜的世界周報YouTube 及世界周報Facebook 都將同步直播。

*新書分享會後我將直奔高雄衛武營，參加劉孟捷（李斯特巡禮之年）鋼琴獨奏會。這是劉孟捷回台，最重要的一場音樂會，我目睹他用盡了一切心力。過去即使21歲時在費城代打缺席大師的音樂會，劉孟捷都未曾如此緊張。他此次回台，手術前為了沒有遺憾，共舉行三場音樂會：其中4/17與5/30皆是與國家交響樂團NSO合作：530那一場指揮是呂紹嘉。但他告訴我，某些曲目對他而言，是Piece of Cake ：惟獨衞武營這一場，曲目由他自己決定，現場錄影，並且找了金曲獎錄音師同步錄音。

5/2衛武營-劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會《李斯特巡禮之年》購票連結
https://www.opentix.life/event/1384752689074294784

劉夢捷明白他即將面對一個大手術，手術風險之外，他的免疫系統疾病，將使他的康復之路更長。

沒有人可以預知未來，為了圓他的夢，醫院每天都要求他早上、晚上量血壓，報告直接傳給院長。振興醫院院長魏崢雖然是亞洲第一把心臟外科醫師，但也不敢大意。

畢竟這個人的生命那麼脆弱，他的心臟主動脈剝離，那是實質的「心碎」了：但他仍有詩，仍有音樂夢。在生命的交接處，在白日與黑夜的交义口，劉孟捷想為他的音樂生涯，留下最美好的紀錄。

他選擇了李斯特。

在這場音樂會前，他甚至以英文寫下了自己與音樂、疾病的半生回顧：如李斯特的巡禮，有仰望，有沉思，有失落，有幽微的疼痛。他以詩篇般的演奏模式，傾訴，詠嘆。他曾得到天賦，也走過死蔭的幽谷。命運是一層又一層的黑影逼近，老天爺隨時想帶走他。

而他已不再流淚，不再沉浸於悲愴告別：因為對他而言活著並不容易，他要讓自己更深刻的抓住每一分時光之美。

如果時間和空間，正如哲人們所形容的
都是不實際存在的東西：那從不感到衰敗的太陽，也不會比我們了不起多少！

他如艾略特的詩句中所形容的：我們為什麼要如此貪心總在祈禱，想活上整整一個世紀？

蝴蝶雖僅活了一天，已經歷了永恆。

當他的身軀如露水還在藤蔓顫抖時，他送給我們一場「完全浪漫又超技的李斯特」。

等音樂會結束了，至少有一張CD，一段YouTube 影像：不論孟捷代表生命的那朵鮮花是否枯萎，他彈奏如天使的音聲不會飛離，它會停留在那夜，繼續釋放芬芳。

這是盡生命之力、之情獨奏的音樂會。劉孟捷説：這樣當他走進手術室時，會少一點悲傷。

或許快樂的日子本來就不多，但讓這場「完全李斯特．完全劉孟捷」的獨奏會放出神聖的光彩吧！

我必將赴會，不會錯過！我知道此刻的獨奏會，很難複製，因為它綜合了太多的情感、愛念，釋放與生命的抒情。

*劉孟捷為此次獨奏會寫下的文字：This past year has seen some unprecedented changes in the world. Many lives have been lost and many have changed. The world has changed while many of us confront the uncertainty of the future.

For most musicians, life has changed. For months, we have been conducting our lessons online, and concerts have mostly stopped or become an online experience as well. More time has been spent learning how to improve the online teaching experience than one could have imagined. While I have felt the duty to continue teaching, the format the pandemic requires for teaching leaves me unwilling to spend more time than I have to.

And truly, I have had other things to deal with. When the pandemic started to worry the American public in March, I was in the middle of a tour with the String Quartet-in-Residence at Curtis, the Vera Quartet. However, our concerts were canceled, and everything came to a sudden halt.

I felt the universe had sent me an unexpected gift, as I had also just received some terrible news concerning my worsening aortic arches and a diagnosis of kidney cancer. The sudden halt in my professional schedule seemed perfect in its timing. I was able to settle into a monastic existence, to simply practice and attempt to heal.

I see many musicians itching to be concertizing again, and many stepped into new territory, performing on the internet. Many took time to develop new podcasts, and to write new materials for their art. Sadly, many have struggled as they have fallen into desperation without any concert incomes. Altogether the music industry seems to be in peril, and many worry about how music and musicians will survive.

However, I had my own survival to think about. Having been through many difficult experiences in my life, I knew this might be the most difficult I would encounter. My Doctors describe me as a walking time bomb. My condition could be lethal at any moment if my blood pressure gets out of control. So while others wrestle with the fate of the music industry, I’ve needed to face my own fate and mortality.

Playing concerts can mean many things to people. At different times throughout my life, I’ve felt the need to express different aspects of myself. When I was young, I wanted to embody the spirit of romanticism, playing lots of Chopin and Schumann. Then there was a period of time when I wanted to challenge myself by showing off pyrotechnics. I had a brooding period where I turned to the pathos of Rachmaninoff, and then felt the need to return to the purity of Schubert and nobility of Brahms. Throughout this pandemic, I wanted to play Bach. Through Bach’s music I found a kind of spiritual sanctuary.

In considering the program for this concert, I felt again the urge to play music that reflects my current feelings and state of mind. The title of today’s recital, “Years of Pilgrimage” seems to fit exactly what I am experiencing.

Liszt wrote several volumes of “Années de pèlerinage” throughout his life to reflect on thoughts he had during his travels. He links his philosophical thoughts to the scenery which inspired them. “Au Bord d’un Source” describes feelings of rejuvenation while standing next to a clear stream of water, a symbol and source of life and energy. It seems to say, when the stream is so pure, life can be so full of joy.

In the Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (The Fountains of the Villa d'Este), the water has a magical and supernatural quality, as Liszt himself wrote in the inscription: "But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,"( from the Gospel of John.)

For me, I have never felt more connected to Liszt than when he looked upon the valley of Obermann and questioned the meaning of existence. At this moment in my life, I often find myself reflecting my experiences of what I see and read into philosophical musings. Perhaps many people come to a time when this is so.

In all this I have felt gratitude for the love stories and sonnets that one can romantically indulge in, and for storms so violent that they threaten to destroy one’s spirit, even the hell-bound journey which brings up questions about the purpose of life…

On this journey, I felt full and alive as a human being. Looking back on this journey, I am grateful for everything, whether happy or sad, to have made an impact, found and imparted meaning to this life.

The unusual time of this pandemic has marked a milestone for me. I have journeyed back home, and as it happened, this is the first time I have spent so much time in my hometown Kaohsiung in over 35 years. It’s particularly nostalgic to play these pieces as some of them were significant in my early musical career. Vallée d’Obermann was the piece I played in my first competition at the junior high school level, in which I won first prize on the national level, which allowed me to be qualified to apply for a special permission to study abroad. This meant my dream to be educated as a musician could be continued in an environment where I could develop fully. In the following year when I was 13, I won the first Asia-Pacific Youth PIano Competition with the Dante Sonata. The competition catapulted me into national attention as I was headlined in several newspapers, and especially since it was held in Kaohsiung, I became a local hero as well. During the same event, I had a fateful meeting with one of the important influences in my life, Mr. Gary Graffman, who then mentored me throughout not only the years when I was studying at Curtis, but throughout my illness and recovery as a pianist. Right before I departed to study in Philadelphia, I played my first solo recital throughout Taiwan, and along with the Dante Sonata, I also performed the three sonnets.

It’s perfect that now, back in Kaohsiung, all these memories have flooded back into my head. I feel so lucky to have been born here, and to have met my first teacher, Chin-Li Lee, who inspired me on the path to become a musician. Prof. Alexander Sung filled me with dreams of becoming an artist. I am grateful for his belief in my talent, when he chose to give a 12 year old such philosophical pieces to play.

Having once again spent some months in Kaohsiung, I can freshly appreciate the source of inspiration it once was for me. I have returned to the source to heal. Having already glimpsed hell’s gate several times, battered and weathered by the storms of life, I know there is a reason life is this way, and it all will be alright.

Meng-Chieh Liu
April, 2021

*劉孟捷衛武營《李斯特巡禮之年》演奏會中，包括李斯特以佩脫拉克三首情詩譜寫的鋼琴琴詩：這三首情詩是從大詩人佩脫拉克一百多首情詩挑出來的，詩本身就很優美，依此激發李斯特的浪漫主義創作靈感，成為琴藝上最困難演奏，但也特別細膩溫柔的琴詩。

這三首分別是：
〈佩脫拉克第47號十四行詩〉〈佩脫拉克第104號十四行詩〉及〈佩脫拉克第123號十四行詩〉。
Franz Liszt（1811-1886）: Sonetto 47 del Petrarca, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, from Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie

李斯特於1846年先出版藝術歌曲《三首佩脫拉克十四行詩》（Tre sonetti del Petrarca），再改成鋼琴獨奏版。

三首佩脫拉克十四行詩
中譯：焦元溥（元溥也是友情贊助，特別準備音樂資料，周日南下，聆賞劉孟捷的樂曲，並且陪同他盯著錄音共三天）

〈第47〉
祝福每天、每月、每年，
所有片刻與鐘點、時間與季節，
在那美麗的原野，

我為一雙眼眸魂縈夢牽。

祝福初遇時的甜，
與愛同在、受苦不停歇，
如弓箭刺穿令我淌血，
傷口永留感動在我心間。

祝福一切我發出的聲音，
當呼喚著我深愛的女郎，
渴望、嘆息、淚濕滿襟。
祝福我寫下的文字遠揚，
歌頌她的芳名，萬古長新。
我心永屬於她，無人能闖。

〈第104〉
我找不到和平，也無意打仗，
我恐懼、我期望，燃燒又冰透。
我向天飛升，卻躺在地上，
我一無所有，卻又擁抱整個宇宙。

我身陷囹圄，監牢又開敞；
我不受囚禁，卻銬著鎖頭。
愛情不讓我死，也不讓我飛翔；
不要我活，也不准我逃離悲愁。

欲看卻無眼，啞口還在發言，
我甘心殞滅，卻仍高聲呼救，
我痛恨自己，但仍愛著他人。

憂傷滋潤我，淚水伴隨笑臉，
生命不足惜，死亡也不煩憂；
我淪落至此，都是妳啊，我的愛人！
〈第123〉

我在塵世見到仙子的美，

她天堂般優雅無與倫比。
想起她讓我悲傷又歡喜，
所見如幻夢迷霧與幽黑。

妳的可愛眼睛使我落淚，
多少次讓太陽也要妒忌。
我還聽到四周發出嘆息，
移動了山嶽停止了河水。

愛情智慧憐憫憂傷財富，
在淚水中形成甜美聲響，
奇妙和諧世上未曾目睹。
天堂追隨著音樂的流淌，
雖然枝上樹葉並未飛舞，
空氣與風息卻充滿芬芳。

5/2衛武營-劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會《李斯特巡禮之年》購票連結
https://www.opentix.life/event/1384752689074294784

拍《入夢》MV的當天，先坐高鐵上台北 （本來在南部找朋友），梳妝以後再跟拍攝團隊再次的下南部。到了海邊以後，一開始一切很安靜，不過那一天越晚風就越大，沙子翻飛就拍不了了，下午就完工！雖然拍得很快，跟拍攝團隊培養感情得非常快，心情超好，很放鬆地在一個很像我家鄉的風景裡，很思鄉的心境裡，唱歌彈寶貝Randon《莊周夢蝶》吉他。跟你們分享一些幕後照 :D

On the day we shot the music video for "Into Dream," I first took an HSR train from southern Taiwan to Taipei. There, after hair and makeup, I went with the shooting crew by car back south. After we got to the beach, we found that everything was still and peaceful, but as the day progressed, it got windier and windier!! We had to cut the shoot short and finished halfway through the afternoon. The crew was awesome and we got to know each other super fast, so I was super relaxed during the shoot. It was great to be able to sing and play my baby Randon "Butterfly Dream" guitar in scenery so similar to my home state of New Mexico, which brought new meaning to the lyrics for me. Here's some behind the scenes pics! :D

剛剛的北美之行，在演出之餘，當然也勾結了不少的當地的媒體。

#lgbtqInHongKong #CensorshipInChina #FreedomOfSpeech #LiberateHongKong #StandWithHongKong #CantoPop

//Anthony Wong’s Forbidden Colors

Out Hong Kong Canto-pop star brings his activism to US during his home’s protest crisis

BY MICHAEL LUONGO

From 1988’s “Forbidden Colors,” named for a 1953 novel by gay Japanese writer Yukio Mishima to this year’s “Is It A Crime?,” commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Hong Kong Canto-pop star Anthony Wong Yiu-ming has combined music and activism over his long career. As Hong Kong explodes in revolt against Beijing’s tightening grip with the One Country, Two Systems policy ticking to its halfway point, Wong arrived stateside for a tour that included ’s Gramercy Theatre.

Gay City News caught up with 57-year-old Wong in the Upper West Side apartment of Hong Kong film director Evans Chan, a collaborator on several films. The director was hosting a gathering for Hong Kong diaspora fans, many from the New York For Hong Kong (NY4HK) solidarity movement.

The conversation covered Wong’s friendship with out actress, model, and singer Denise Ho Wan-see who co-founded the LGBTQ group Big Love Alliance with Wong and recently spoke to the US Congress; the late Leslie Cheung, perhaps Asia’s most famous LGBTQ celebrity; the threat of China’s rise in the global order; and the ongoing relationship among Canto-pop, the Cantonese language, and Hong Kong identity.

Wong felt it was important to point out that Hong Kong’s current struggle is one of many related to preserving democracy in the former British colony that was handed back to China in 1997. While not his own lyrics, Wong is known for singing “Raise the Umbrella” at public events and in Chan’s 2016 documentary “Raise the Umbrellas,” which examined the 2014 Occupy Central or Umbrella Movement, when Hong Kong citizens took over the central business district for nearly three months, paralyzing the city.

Wong told Gay City News, “I wanted to sing it on this tour because it was the fifth anniversary of the Umbrella Movement last week.”

He added, “For a long time after, nobody wanted to sing that song, because we all thought the Umbrella Movement was a failure. We all thought we were defeated.”

Still, he said, without previous movements “we wouldn’t have reached today,” adding, “Even more so than the Umbrella Movement, I still feel we feel more empowered than before.”

Hong Kong’s current protests came days after the 30th anniversary commemorations of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, known in China as the June 4th Incident. Hong Kong is the only place on Chinese soil where the Massacre can be publicly discussed and commemorated. Working with Tats Lau of his band Tat Ming Pair, Wong wrote the song “Is It A Crime?” to perform at Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen commemoration. The song emphasizes how the right to remember the Massacre is increasingly fraught.

“I wanted our group to put out that song to commemorate that because to me Tiananmen Square was a big enlightenm­ent,” a warning of what the Beijing government will do to those who challenge it, he said, adding that during the June 4 Victoria Park vigil, “I really felt the energy and the power was coming back to the people. I really felt it, so when I was onstage to sing that song I really felt the energy. I knew that people would go onto the street in the following days.”

As the genre Canto-pop suggests, most of Wong’s work is in Cantonese, also known as Guangdonghua, the language of Guangdong province and Hong Kong. Mandarin, or Putonghua, is China’s national language. Wong feels Beijing’s goal is to eliminate Cantonese, even in Hong Kong.

“When you want to destroy a people, you destroy the language first, and the culture will disappear,” he said, adding that despite Cantonese being spoken by tens of millions of people, “we are being marginaliz­ed.”

Canto-pop and the Cantonese language are integral to Hong Kong’s identity; losing it is among the fears driving the protests.

“Our culture is being marginalized, more than five years ago I think I could feel it coming, I could see it coming,” Wong said. “That’s why in my music and in my concerts, I kept addressing this issue of Hong Kong being marginaliz­ed.”

This fight against the marginalization of identity has pervaded Wong’s work since his earliest days.

“People would find our music and our words, our lyrical content very apocalyptic,” he explained. “Most of our songs were about the last days of Hong Kong, because in 1984, they signed over the Sino-British declaration and that was the first time I realized I was going to lose Hong Kong.”

Clarifying identity is why Wong officially came out in 2012, after years of hints. He said his fans always knew but journalists hounded him to be direct.

“I sang a lot of songs about free love, about ambiguity and sexuality — even in the ‘80s,” he said, referring to 1988’s “Forbidden Colors.” “When we released that song as a single, people kept asking me questions.”

In 1989, he released the gender-fluid ballad “Forget He is She,” but with homosexuality still criminalized until 1991, he did not state his sexuality directly.

That changed in 2012, a politically active year that brought Hong Kongers out against a now-defunct plan to give Beijing tighter control over grade school curriculum. Raymond Chan Chi-chuen was elected to the Legislative Council, becoming the city’s first out gay legislator. In a concert, Wong used a play on the Chinese word “tongzhi,” which has an official meaning of comrade in the communist sense, but also homosexual in modern slang. By flashing the word about himself and simultaneously about an unpopular Hong Kong leader considered loyal to the Chinese Communist Party, he came out.

“The [2012] show is about identity about Hong Kong, because the whole city is losing its identity,” he said. “So I think I should be honest about it. It is not that I had been very dishonest about it, I thought I was honest enough.”

That same year he founded Big Love Alliance with Denise Ho, who also came out that year. The LGBTQ rights group organizes Hong Kong’s queer festival Pink Dot, which has its roots in Singapore’s LGBTQ movement. Given the current unrest, however, Pink Dot will not be held this year in Hong Kong.

As out celebrities using their star power to promote LGBTQ issues, Wong and Ho follow in the footsteps of fellow Hong Konger Leslie Cheung, the late actor and singer known for “Farewell My Concubine” (1993), “Happy Together” (1997), and other movies where he played gay or sexually ambiguous characters.

“He is like the biggest star in Hong Kong culture,” said Wong, adding he was not a close friend though the two collaborated on an album shortly before Cheung’s 2003 suicide.

Wong said that some might think he came to North America at an odd time, while his native city is literally burning. However, he wanted to help others connect to Hong Kong.

“My tool is still primarily my music, I still use my music to express myself, and part of my concern is about Hong Kong, about the world, and I didn’t want to cancel this tour in the midst of all this unrest,” he said. “In this trip I learned that I could encourage more people to keep an eye on what is going on in Hong Kong.”

Wong worries about the future of LGBTQ rights in Hong Kong, explaining, “We are trying to fight for the freedom for all Hong Kongers. If Hong Kongers don’t have freedom, the minorities won’t.”

That’s why he appreciates Taiwan’s marriage equality law and its leadership in Asia on LGBTQ rights.

“I am so happy that Taiwan has done that and they set a very good example in every way and not just in LGBT rights, but in democracy,” he said.

Wong was clear about his message to the US, warning “what is happening to Hong Kong won’t just happen to Hong Kongers, it will happen to the free world, the West, all those crackdowns, all those censorships, all those crackdowns on freedom of the press, all this crackdown will spread to the West.”

Wong’s music is banned in Mainland China because of his outspokenness against Beijing.

Like other recent notable Hong Kong visitors including activist Joshua Wong who testified before Congress with Ho, Wong is looking for the US to come to his city’s aid.

Wong tightened his body and his arms against himself, his most physically expressive moment throughout the hour and a half interview, and said, “Whoever wants to have a relationship with China, no matter what kind of relationship, a business relationship, an artistic relationship, or even in the academic world, they feel the pressure, they feel that they have to be quiet sometimes. So we all, we are all facing this situation, because China is so big they really want the free world to compromise.”

(These remarks came just weeks before China’s angry response to support for Hong Kong protesters voiced by the Houston Rockets’ general manager that could threaten significant investment in the National Basketball Association by that nation.)

Wong added, “America is the biggest democracy in the world, and they really have to use their influence to help Hong Kong. I hope they know this is not only a Hong Kong issue. This will become a global issue because China really wants to rule the world.”

Of that prospect, he said, “That’s very scary.”//

The Philadelphia 76ers played more like a playoff team than one mired in a miserable stretch of basketball.


Thaddeus Young had 26 points and 14 rebounds, Allen Iverson scored 20 points and the 76ers snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 117-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.

Iverson was a rookie the last time the Sixers lost 13 straight in the 1996-97 season. He played the best game of his four-game second stint in Philadelphia to help avoid another unlucky 13-game skid on his resume.

The Sixers had all five starters and two reserves score in double digits.

"We felt like once we did get a win, it was going to be extremely hard, one of the hardest games to win," Iverson said. "It was totally opposite."

Iverson hit the 20-point mark for the second straight game a day after his having his left knee drained of fluid. Young was sensational, using an 11-of-15 effort in the first half to give the Sixers a rare comfortable lead and easy win.

"It's been working for us, but we just couldn't get the win," Young said. "It really worked tonight."

Looking for a spark, 76ers coach Eddie Jordan benched power forward Elton Brand and paired rookie Jrue Holiday in the backcourt with Iverson. Jordan's move worked: Holiday had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

"He just put us in a good rhythm tonight and had us flowing," Iverson said.

Brand, who was previously benched in some fourth quarters, said it was hard to complain about his role after a victory. He just can't believe he's considered a bench player early in the second year of an $80 million, five-year deal.

"When you look around at other teams, yeah," Brand said. "It's like, no disrespect, but [Golden State's] Mikki Moore gets the start and I don't. Not that he's not a good player, but, definitely."

Andre Iguodala left briefly with bruised ribs and scored 14 points on brutal 4-of-20 shooting. He's day-to-day and was not expected to practice Tuesday.

Corey Maggette led the Warriors with 24 points and Anthony Randolph had 15. Golden State lost its third straight in the finale of a five-game trip that started Dec. 7.

"You can't make excuses about a long trip," Maggette said.

Iverson's return generated a short burst of excitement, but not wins. His box office appeal is already lukewarm with only 12,795 fans listed to watch a slumping Sixers team.

Iverson joked at shootaround that after his ill-fated stint with Memphis, he sat home "trying to get fat." He wasn't in game shape and the Sixers came in with a bloated 18 losses.

He teamed with Young to make eight of 11 shots in the first quarter to help build a 12-point lead. Young really got rolling in the second quarter. He kept close to the basket and used a flurry of layups to score 14 points. He did hit a nice turnaround jumper that stretched the lead to 15.

Iverson capped the half by drawing a midair foul with 1 second left, hitting two free throws to make it 71-57.

Philadelphia won for only the third time in 19 games and its 12-game losing streak was the longest since 2006. Iverson was around for the start of that one three years ago before he was traded and the end of this one after his return.

Iverson acknowledges the years of banging down the lane and crashing the court have taken a severe toll on his 34-year-old frame. He's limited at shootarounds and practices -- by coaches decision, not complaint -- and no longer has the quickest first step in the league.

"I've been dealing with that the last 5, 6 years I've been playing," Iverson said. "I understand that when I fall or hit something that it flares up or gets irritated a lot faster than it used to. That comes from getting older."

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Iverson could rest. Willie Green's 3-pointer with 9:10 left in the fourth gave the Sixers 102 points, meaning free food at a fast-food restaurant for the few fans who bought tickets.

The weary Warriors had three field goals and scored 11 points in the third quarter.

"I think we'll all be glad to get home, but you still want to play as well as you can on the road," interim Warriors coach Keith Smart said. "Unfortunately, we didn't manage to do that on this trip."

Allen Iverson squared up, hit a 3-pointer and raised his arms to the air, having thwarted Golden State's final charge. There was no downplaying the importance of this win that put the Denver Nuggets in control of the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The win moved Denver (48-31) a full game ahead of the Warriors in the race for eighth place in the West with only three games remaining. The Nuggets also control the tiebreaker, meaning they can clinch their fifth straight playoff berth by winning two of their final three games.

Golden State (47-32) probably will need to win its final three games and hope Denver loses twice to avoid the distinction of being the winningest team ever to miss the NBA playoffs. Houston won 45 games in 2000-01.

"They're in the catbird seat right now," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We've got a big problem as far as making the playoffs at this particular time. We're going to need a lot of luck and probably have to win out."

The Nuggets erased the early deficit by scoring 19 straight points in the second quarter and built the lead up from there, putting the back-to-back losses to Sacramento and Seattle from last weekend behind them.

"It was a must win for us. We came up with that attitude," said Anthony, who had 25 points, including a 3-pointer that made it 104-90 with 7:52 to go. "It was 'win or go home' in our minds."

The lead grew to 17 before the Warriors mounted one last run, scoring nine straight points to cut it to 107-99 on Kelenna Azubuike's 3-pointer with just over 4 minutes remaining.

Golden State had two chances to cut into the lead more before Iverson's jumper got the lead back to 10. Iverson then hit the 3-pointer that made it 112-101 with 2:06 to go, icing the most important game of the season.

"AI likes to take that 3, that dagger 3," coach George Karl said. "We were kind of caught in the quandary of should we try to score or run clock. That 3 ended the quandary. It got us over that hump where we didn't have to be scared to death of them making that 3."

Both teams talked about how this game had a playoff feel to it. The yellow "We Believe" placards that were prevalent during the Warriors' playoff run a year ago were taped to each seat. But the Warriors have not been playing with the same energy down the stretch this season as they did during their memorable playoff run a year ago.

They have lost nine of the past 16 games in a lackluster finish to their best season in 14 years. Golden State committed an uncharacteristically high 18 turnovers, missed nine of 24 free throws and got poor shooting nights from Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis.

Davis had a triple-double with 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but shot only 9-for-25. Jackson had 18 points on 5-for-17 shooting. Monta Ellis led the way with 29 points and Al Harrington added 20.

"We've got a job to do, we've still got games," Jackson said. "We can't sit and dwell on this game because we lost. Definitely, everybody's upset, but at the same time we can't do anything about it. We've got to get ready to play the next game."

The notoriously slow-starting Warriors had their best opening quarter in months, taking a 37-22 lead after one for their best start since leading Cleveland by 16 after one back on Dec. 23. That advantage was quickly erased when the Iverson and Smith found their stroke and the Warriors struggled against Denver's zone early in the second.

"All I know is zones change offenses," Karl said. "When teams zone us, I'm not sure it works but it makes us play different. It makes us play in a way we aren't 100 percent comfortable."

It had a similar effect on the Warriors, who missed their first eight shots of the quarter. Iverson had nine points and Smith scored eight in the big run that gave Denver a 43-38 lead.

Game notes
Golden State F Brandan Wright and Denver F Nene missed the game with groin injuries. ... Davis has three triple-doubles this season. ... The Warriors have not won back-to-back games since taking three in a row March 7-12.
Iverson scored 33 points, J.R. Smith added 24 off the bench and the Nuggets overcame a 16-point deficit in the first quarter to win their playoff showdown with the Warriors 114-105 Thursday night.

"Everybody knew what was at stake," Iverson said. "It's easy for players to say it's just another game. But everybody knows it wasn't just another game. It was a game that both teams felt they had to have."