San Antonio – The Nuggets didn’t merely open the playoffs by winning in road blues on the NBA’s toughest home court against San Antonio. They did so Sunday night and didn’t act the least bit surprised.
“I wouldn’t say we stole one,” Denver center said of his team’s 93-87 victory in Game 1 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series. “We felt confident to come down here and try to get two. We’ve beat this team before.”
Led by ‘s game-high 31 points, the Nuggets picked a peculiar place to collect their first road playoff win since a 1994 victory at Utah. San Antonio lost just three times at home all season, only twice with all-star big man Tim Duncan healthy.
But Duncan, bothered Sunday by a sprained right ankle, wasn’t near his all-pro form and the Nuggets hung around long enough to close with a flourish. They took the lead for good with 1:56 left on ‘ 16-foot jump shot, 85-84.
They scored another eight straight to pull away as San Antonio, which many experts picked to win the title, misfired on 17 consecutive field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter.
What impressed Nuggets coach George Karl the most, beyond the final score, was the poise with which his players handled the stunning victory.
“They’re a confident team,” Karl said. “The process is not to get too excited, not to get too happy. I think staying happy, confident, but not cocky, arrogant, not too elated (is important). Because there’s so much work to do. It’s just the beginning of the process.”
If not for an unconscious first-half run by Miller, the late dramatics likely would not have been possible. Miller hit 11-of-16 shots in his 24-point first half before missing all eight of his shots in the second.
The point guard hit just 6-of-39 shots beyond the 3-point line in the regular season but made two 3-pointers in the first half. The second attempt, a 41-foot heave at the buzzer, capped a wild 8-0 run in the final seconds of the first half that allowed Denver to tie the game, 52-52.
First Miller scored on a layup. Then Camby scored on a dunk following a Denver steal of an errant Beno Udrih pass and was fouled by Robert Horry. He made the free throw. Camby then drew a quick charge on Manu Ginobili, which set up Miller’s prayer.
“We play around in practice with that. My thing was just to get a shot up before halftime,” Miller said.
Ginobili, who scored 23 points, called that spurt “awful” but typical of a half in which the Spurs had no answer for Miller.
“He was the one keeping their team alive,” Ginobili said.
Miller also was greatly responsible for keeping Spurs guard Tony Parker in check. Parker shot only 6-for-17 while Duncan finished 7-for-22 en route to a mortal 18 points.
Nevertheless, it was an atypical win for Denver, which had just 12 fast-break points and allowed 54 points in the paint.
“It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t our pace. But we got a win,” said Nuggets guard Wesley Person.
The Nuggets’ victory gave them home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series, which means plenty with the Nuggets 19-1 at home under Karl. But the Spurs are a veteran team with two championship rings in six years. On the way to their second NBA title, in 2003, they twice lost series openers, to Phoenix and Dallas.
“We’ve got to capitalize on this, even though there were some things I thought we could have did better,” said Nuggets small forward , who missed his first four shots but went 6-for-10 over the final three quarters.
Denver’s next chance to capitalize comes with Game 2 in San Antonio on Wednesday night in a series with a decidedly different outlook.
“Probably everybody outside our locker room thought the Spurs were going to just run right through us,” said Camby, who said he felt well coming back from his strained right hamstring. Camby had 12 rebounds, 12 points and four blocked shots in 40 minutes. “We heard all the talk about the Spurs and the Suns (being) in the conference finals and stuff like that. This team has a lot of pride, a lot of heart.”
The Spurs knew the Nuggets were a hot team.
But, forward Bruce Bowen said, “If we weren’t just paying attention before, we are now.”
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
