2007 first round playoff, Iverson and Anthony combine for 61 points to lead Nuggets over Spurs 95-89

The Denver Nuggets have been here before, and this time around, they're not going to get too excited about it.

In 2005 the Nuggets beat the Spurs in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs on the road before losing the next four to a San Antonio team that went on to win the NBA championship. The Nuggets did it again Sunday night, beating the Spurs 95-89 in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series with Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony leading the way.

"The guys who were here two years ago know we were in the same situation last time," Denver centre Marcus Camby said. "They ran off and won four straight. That's why no one is really happy. We came out to get Game 1, but we also want to get Game 2."

If Iverson and Anthony play this well again, the Nuggets have a good shot. Anthony scored 30 points and Iverson added 31, including 29 after a sluggish first quarter.

"Two years ago we probably were just happy to be in the playoffs," Anthony said. "Now we ain't just happy to be in the playoffs. We know we're a good team and when we play good we can play with the best of them."

And the Nuggets played tough defence, too, which is not usually their forte.

"They stopped us, doing the things we wanted to do and we couldn't stop their two stars," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That's really the bottom line. Their defence outplayed us."

Nene added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Marcus Camby grabbed 10 boards for sixth-seeded Denver, which entered the playoffs having won 10 of 11. The big guys also made things difficult for Tim Duncan, who scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds for the Spurs.

Tony Parker led third-seeded San Antonio with 19 points, followed by Michael Finley with 15 and Robert Horry with 14.

The Spurs' Manu Ginobili isn't putting much stock in the 2005 series, either.

"I still hate it. It's not that I'm going to get confident because I've done it before," he said. "We are very upset. We really wanted to take this one home and we didn't."

Game 2 is Wednesday in San Antonio.

"So now we really got to step up. Now we know we have to go to Denver and take one or two games," said Ginobili, who then added, not wanting to get ahead of himself: "First of all we have to focus on the next one because it's going to be a huge one for us."

Denver traded for Iverson in December, hoping the former MVP would combine with Anthony to form an unstoppable 1-2 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 start to win consistently.

"It was important to come out and play defence," Iverson said. "We understand that we can score points, we've been saying that all year long. We can score points, that's not our problem. We've got to be able to stop people. When we needed the stops, we got it."