Felton helped Williams win an NCAA title in 2005 and Lawson helped Williams get his second one last season before entering the NBA.

Williams spoke well of Lawson. He said he gave Nuggets coach George Karl, who attended North Carolina when Williams was a student, a strong recommendation before last June's draft when the Nuggets were considering Lawson, whom they acquired in a trade on draft night.

"When George called me, I told him, 'If you're going to run it, you've got the best runner I've been around, and he'll do a great job for you."

In 19 minutes Tuesday, Lawson totaled five points and two assists. But the Bobcats won 107-95 as Felton had a much better game, scoring 14 points and making six steals in 36 minutes.

--Nuggets coach George Karl and Bobcats coach Larry Brown are both North Carolina graduates and are good friends. But it's always a battle when they coach.

"Once the game starts, you actually have a little more playoff intensity," said Karl, indicating it's not hard to coach against a good friend.

In their latest meeting, Brown's side won 107-95 on Tuesday.

Brown first coached in the NBA with Denver in 1976-77 and Karl with Cleveland in 1984-85, but they didn't face each other for the first time since midway through the 1991-92 season. Brown was in college with Kansas when Karl first became an NBA coach and Karl was out of the NBA for a few years when Brown returned to the league in 1988.

"We've been doing it a long time, so I don't think there are change-ups or tricks up our sleeve," Karl said.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We looked a little tired offensively. We didn't pass it enough to be good enough. We had holes." -- Nuggets coach George Karl, whose team had just 11 assists in Tuesday's 107-95 loss at Charlotte.