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Show Monday. April 21 2007 DAILY HERALD C4 2007 NBA PLAYOFFS Melo, A.L steal Game 1 win from Spurs crumpled to the floor with 8:03 left in the third. On a drive to the basket, James rose for floater from about 10 feet. At about the same time the ball went in, James came down on Etan Thomas' right foot, twisting his ankle.Jheinjury looked severe and James spent nearly a minute on the floor staring at the ceiling. James popped up, though, and walked to the bench with hardly a limp. Elizabeth White Iht ASSOC lATID PRESS SAN ANTONIO -T- his is what the Denver Nuggets had jn mind when they acquired Allen Iverson to go with Carmelo Anthony. The duo provided the offense and the Nuggets were tough defensively, too, as they beat the San Antonio Spurs 9 in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series Sunday night. Iverson scored 29 of his 31 after the first quarter and Anthony added 30 points for the Nuggets, who entered the playoffs having won 10 of 11. Nene added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Marcus Camby grabbed 10 boards for Denver. The big guys also made things difficult for Tim Duncan, who scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds for the Spurs. "We understand we're going to have to play defense to beat this team," Iverson said. "We know we can play offense. We're going to have to play defense." Tony Parker led San Antonio with 19 points, followed by Michael Finley with 15 and Robert Horry with 14. Denver traded for Iverson in December, hoping the former MVP would combine with Anthony to form an unstoppable punch and make the Nuggets a legitimate title contender. The two averaged 55 points a game, but not until late in the season did Denver really start to click. The Spurs won the season series with Denver, but that was hardly a good gauge of how this series would go. The Nuggets were without Anthony in the first matchup and Iverson had just returned from an injury for the second. Their third meeting was the play, Parker hit a layup for the Spurs to bring them within with 43.8 left. Iverson missed his next shot, and Parker's under the basket pass to Duncan for a dunk made it Nuggets with 17.9 to go. But Anthony and Nene hit two free throws a piece after each was fouled by Duncan to extend the lead to 9 with 11.6 seconds left and seal the game for the Nuggets. The Nuggets had the lead for commost of the first half as Dunanother Iverson-to-Nen- e Denbination to close an can, Parker and Manu Ginobili ver run and give the Nuggets a struggled from the field. They lead their biggest of combined for 15 points and the game shot with 3:27 left. from the field in the first half, one fewer than After Denver failed to get the ball over the half court line Anthony scored for Denver as in time with under a minute to he went Iverson missed Suns That's right, a Suns' team known for its prolific offense All-St- high-scorin- g 95-8- sixth-seede- I Warriors 97, Mavericks 85: At Dallas, Don Nelson's wacky ways still win playoff games in Dallas even though he's now coaching the Golden State d third-seede- d 2 2-- J 1 l .V.,- V f . ERIC GAY Left: Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony reacts at the final buzzer Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) and center Francisco Elson walk off last regular season game and Denver won a meaningless rout. With their stars now aligned, the Nuggets got the road victory they'll need to pull off the upset and win their first playoff series since 1994 when they beat Seattle in a best of five to become the first No. 8 seed to knock out a No. 1. Nene's dunk off a pass from the driving Iverson made it Anthony's 3 and a basket by Iverson were followed by 100-7- 91-8- 7 his first six shots, then hit four straight. 7 91-8- 9 95-8- 80-7- 11-- 0 relied on defense. Phoenix held Los Angeles to 10 fourth-quarte- r "I was just trying to be agpoints. "Our defense was the key gressive like I've been the whole season," Barbosa said. to the game," Steve Nash said. "They were trying to slow "Obviously there's not much down the game, and it's not the we can do on the runs Kobe went on, but if you look at the way that we like to play." Amare Stoudemire, back in entire game, our defense was the postseason after missing solid." last year's while recovering Nash had 20 points and 10 from two knee surgeries, addassists and Shawn Marion 16 ed 23 points and 12 rebounds. points and 16 rebounds for a Bryant scored 39, but only 1 1 Phoenix team that struggled in the second half. The NBA's mightily on offense until Barbosa provide the spark, highscoring champ was er at the shooting in the fourth quarter, lighted by a r when Phoenix pulled away. buzzer that cut "Kobe ran out of gas in the the Lakers' lead to enterfourth quarter," Lakers coach ing the fourth. Phil Jackson said. "Their de"It was a really big shot," fense did a great job against Nash said, "a turning point our offense, and we couldn't there." find a way to get on track." Lamar Odom, who had to Continued from CI third-quarte- 77-7- 4 leave the game briefly to get five stitches in a cut over his left eye, had 17 points and kJ rebounds for Los Angeles. Game 2 of the rematch of last year's first round series is Tuesday night in Phoenix. The Suns won the opener last year, too, but lost the next three, then regrouped to win the last three and advance. Bryant, shooting in the first half and in the second, refuted any suggese tion that his troubles were due to fatigue. "No, I was fine. I was fine," he said. "We didn't execute like we did in that first half, so my touches became a lot harder." Nash said he didn't know if Bryant wore down, "but certainly it's not easy to go kind of that long." Energy was no problem for Barbosa. late-gam- one-on-o- Associated Press as the Nuggets defeat the San Antonio Spurs. Right San the court on Sunday. ) Cavaliers 97, Wizards 82: At Cleveland, LeBron James stayed in the game despite a sprained ankle and scored 23 points, Larry Hughes added 27 and Cleveland beat d Washington in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series. James rolled his left ankle in the third quarter but refused to come out, adding nine rebounds and seven assists in 44 minutes. The Cavs figured to blow injury-deplete- through their second straight first round matchup with the Wizards, who were missing Gilbert Arenas (knee surgery) and Caron Butler All-Sta- His personal scoring surge erased a 1 deficit. Barbosa's driving layup on an ultra-fas- t break put Phoenix ahead with 10:29. It was the Suns' first lead since it was midway through the first quarter. "He is just so much faster than anybody else it's unbelievable," Suns coach Mike 77-7- 79-7- 7 1 D'Antoni said. The Phoenix run reached 16-- 4 after Boris Diaw made one of two free throws to give the Suns an lead 6:27 from the finish. With Bryant misfiring, Phoenix stretched it to 3 on Stoudemire's dunk after a pass from Barbosa, who had tumbled to the floor, with 3:32 left. Bryant's lone field goal in the fourth quarter was a layup. "You lost a ball game. Nothing slipped away when 87-8- 1 91-8- Advertise your (broken hand). However, Antawn Jamison scored 28 points and Jarvis Hayes 18 for Washington, which was still within 10 points with more than seven minutes remaining. The Cavs moved their offensive attack inside and center Zydrunas scored seven straight points to help Cleveland push its lead to 4 with five minutes left. Ilgauskas, who was bothered by a sore ankle when the Cavs beat the Wizards in e series a year a tight ago, scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth. James appeared as if his second postseason as a pro might be in jeopardy when he -- 3 89-7- you lose a game like that," Jackson said. "What we do know is that we can play with this ballclub, and we have the energy to contain them for a full game. They played a game and we played a game." A 2 run brought the Suns temporarily back from a Warriors. Baron Davis scored 19 of his 33 points in the third quarter, carrying Nellie's small-bal- l lineup to a victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of their Western Conference series. An eighth seed beating a top seed, especially one that won 67 regular-seaso- n games, normally would be a stunner. But this was Golden State's sixth straight win over Dallas; the Warriors are 4-- 0 against the Mavs since Nelson joined the bench this season. Davis nearly had a triple-double with 14 rebounds and eight assists. Stephen Jackson added 23 points as Golden State, playing its first postseason game since 1994, got its first playoff win since April 25, 1992, and first playoff road win since May 8, 1991. The Mavericks made the NBA finals last year and are expecting to get back again, especially after their strong regular season. But all that earned them for the playoffs was home-couadvantage, and they've now squandered rt that. Game 2 will be in Dallas on Wednesday night. the second half gave the Lakers a 5745 lead with 9:47 left in the third quarter. Nash, always his team's severest critic, liked its defense and the late grit but didn't like the way the Suns started. "I think sometimes our team forgets where we are," he said. "We are a little bit complacent second-quarte- r deficit. in that we feel like it's just Phoenix tied it at 37 on Nash's going to happen for us. Sometimes you've got to go out and with 3:09 left in the half. make it happen." NOTES: The Suns' Raja Bell Then Bryant took over, the Suns 2 the rest and Diaw were a combined of the half , the last nine on for seven points. Bell His final 3 came from was on 3s. ... The Lak27 feet with two defenders in ers' record for most points in his face and one second on the a playoff game is 61 by Elgin 14-- 11-- clock. In all, Bryant scored the Lakers' final 15 of the half and Los Angeles led at the 48-3- 9 break. Bryant's only of Jazz Baylor in 1962. ... Phoenix has four straight playoff victories over the Lakers. ... Jackson lost a playoff opener for the second year in a row after winning his first 14. first-haperformance Saturday before scoring 16 points in the third quarter to Continued from CI lead Houston to its than 10 points a game during win. After the game, he blamed his poor start on the regular season. "These guys are not bad nerves and admitted his palms were sweaty as he drove to the players around these two," Fisher said. "That's why Toyota Center for the game. McGrady said the anxiety they've had the success they've is behind him and that there had this season. So it's important that we focus a lot of our will be no similar problems in Game 2. attention toward the two best "It's real big for us to get out players, but we can't just leave shots to a great start tomorrow," he guys open for wide-opee said. "We got the and expect to win." jitters out of the way, so now it's Alston, who was from range in Game 1, time to play our basketball for four quarters." knows he has to score when he's open because of a double Rockets coach Jeff Van team on Yao or McGrady. Gundy thinks Houston's slow start Saturday may have been "They are going to make a conscious effort to stay on Yao a product of being burdened and Tracy and make guys like by outside expectations. "Sometimes you want somemyself and Luther and Shane beat them," Alston said. "They thing so bad it has a negative were leaving me a lot. I was impact," he said. "Instead of left alone." seeing it as a great opportuHe's hoping to see more of nity, I thought we were very that in Game 2. discombobulated. We're going "I'm capable of knocking to have to have the right level down five or six in a game," of intensity and be emotionhe said. "They're going to take ally solid so that you can play their chance with me shooting poised, efficient basketball" the ball from beyond the arc." Utah coach Jerry Sloan was concerned about the mind-se- t McGrady, who is winless in five career playoff series, of his team as well, but for a said things will be difficult different reason. He said some if Houston's role players of his younger players got too don't step up when he's being worked up for Game 1 and that there was no way for him to trapped. "If we're not knocking down talk them down. shots then they're going to "Some of those guys were continue to do that and it takes ready to play at noon," he the ball out of my hands," he said. "I told them and tried to said. "It's very important that explain to them, but they've when they trap like that we're got to learn on their own. The knocking down shots so they game doesn't start until 8:30 can go to something else." and that's the only time you The seven-timwant to get yourself pumped struggled en route to a one- up to play." point lf n first-gam- Get 15 lines of text Ci ... and a Garage Sale Kit (which includes signs, price tags, and balloons) Call today to place jour ad! . e AD-St- 'whiltsuppFiaUit Privitf party only. RntridioffiiMy apply. wwiv.cougarbluG.com |