El Paso – El Grande de Chihuahua had a noche especial.
The Nuggets’ 112-85 win over Portland on Saturday may have been just another exhibition game, but Eduardo Najera’s near-homecoming meant plenty to his international fan base.
Granted a rare start, Najera did his best to please the Don Haskins Center crowd in a game played a 3 1/2 hour drive from his hometown of Chihuahua, Mexico.
“It’s major. It’s a real huge deal,” said Najera’s cousin, 20-year-old Ricardo Gallegos Jr., a member of a 40-person contingent the forward left tickets for. Promoters guessed that, among the 10,412 fans, at least 1,000 of Najera’s compatriots crossed the border to see him play.
While Najera sat with the game well in hand, coach George Karl grudgingly let him make a final cameo at his fans’ request late in the fourth quarter. Najera thanked the crowd in Spanish and English after the game.
“I had a lot of people from El Paso and Juarez (Mexico),” he said. “I was very pleased with the response.”
“He had 13,000 people,” Carmelo Anthony chimed in from the adjacent locker.
Even aside from Najera’s presence, Saturday had more than its share of fanfare for a preseason game. Members of the historic Texas Western championship team that upset Kentucky in 1966 took the floor between the first two quarters. Haskins, the man with his name on the building and the coach of that team, met the Nuggets on Saturday morning.
“They seem like a great group of guys,” he said. “They’ve got a heck of a coach and they’ll be good. … Normally a coach doesn’t make that much difference, but he sure did last year. I think everybody’s expecting big things from them. Just talking to them a little bit, looking at them, looking in their eyes, I think they want to play to the best of their ability, and that’s all you can ask.”
Asked how his players reacted, Karl said, “They were very receptive and respectful. They laughed a lot. He shared some good stories, talked about championship mentality. Exactly what I wanted it to be.”
The game also meant something to the Nuggets’ Earl Watson, who also has roots in Chihuahua.
He noted that his maternal grandfather crossed the border illegally decades ago, adding, “If he didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be here today.”
With 23 points, six rebounds and four steals, Anthony led six Nuggets in double-figure scoring. Najera added 10 points and five rebounds.
“Eddie Najera was great,” Karl said. “He started us playing the right way. He started us good. Kenyon (Martin) had good energy. Our defense was big-time early and offensively in the second half we started playing with the pass a lot better than we had been and the game became real easy.”
Injury bug
Denver played without Earl Boykins (groin), Greg Buckner (groin), Nene (right hamstring), Marcus Camby (left plantar fasciitis) and Watson (left calf strain). Martin rested the entire second half. Camby guessed that he would be out for a couple of days at least.
“It’s my first training camp with the guys, and I trust that they’re just trying to protect their bodies,” Karl said. “I think the only one I’m going to be real cautious about is Marcus. Marcus has got a little bit of a sore foot that we don’t want to develop into a chronic sore foot.”
Footnotes
The teams and fans observed a pregame moment of silence for Atlanta center Jason Collier, who died Saturday. … Ex-Nugget Wesley Person and Latrell Sprewell are among those still available to fill a spot at backup small forward for Denver, though general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said he wants to see how the current team performs through the exhibition season. “But our eyes are always open,” he added. “There’s three or four guys out there. Obviously we know Person well.” … The Nuggets have their first day off today after two weeks of work. … Watson is waiting to “adopt” a family in the Denver area that has evacuated from Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
PORTLAND (85)
Miles 6-11 1-2 13, Randolph 2-8 0-0 4, Przybilla 3-3 0-1 6, Jack 0-3 5-9 5, Dixon 4-10 4-4 12, Blake 2-6 0-0 4, Clancy 2-2 1-2 5, Seung-Jin 1-1 1-2 3, Smith 0-0 0-1 0, Webster 6-9 0-1 12, Patterson 3-5 3-5 9, Outlaw 2-4 3-4 7, Khryapa 0-4 5-7 5, Ratliff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-66 23-38 85.
DENVER (112)
Anthony 8-17 5-6 23, Najera 3-8 4-7 10, Martin 1-1 3-4 5, Lenard 7-13 2-2 17, Miller 0-1 3-4 3, Johnson 6-8 1-1 17, Smith 6-6 0-0 12, Chenowith 3-4 0-0 6, Hodge 0-4 1-2 1, Pope 0-0 0-0 0, Kleiza 6-9 2-3 14, Dixon 0-1 0-0 0, Elson 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 42-79 21-29 112.
Portland 18 25 22 20 – 85
Denver 28 26 33 25 – 112
3-point goals – Portland 0-7 (Miles 0-1, Blake 0-1, Webster 0-1, Patterson 0-1, Dixon 0-3), Denver 7-13 (Johnson 4-5, Anthony 2-2, Lenard 1-4, Najera 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Portland 36 (Clancy 7), Denver 48 (Chenowith 7). Assists – Portland 19 (Blake 6), Denver 30 (Hodge 7). Total fouls – Portland 25, Denver 32. A – 10,412.
Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
