The exclamation points kept on coming.
First came Marcus Camby’s follow dunk of a Carmelo Anthony miss. Then the center sent Tony Parker’s layup try bounding into the Pepsi Center seats. By the time Anthony dropped in the last two of his 32 points on a jumper against a team that used to specialize in driving him crazy, the arena shook.
These Nuggets, 104-92 winners over San Antonio on Wednesday, looked plenty different from the team that fell to the Spurs in five games in last spring’s playoffs. They didn’t let anyone push them around and didn’t blink when they coughed up a big lead.
“Coming off a road trip, playing one of the best, if not the best, team in basketball, you can’t ask for much more,” coach George Karl said of a game that pleased David Thompson and many of the Nuggets’ other ABA stars honored Wednesday.
Leading 86-85 with 6:30 to go, the Nuggets (39-30) won their eighth out of 10 by outscoring the Spurs 18-7 the rest of the way in a contest with the intensity, crowd noise and late tipoff of a playoff game. Denver can clinch the Northwest Division with a combination of nine more wins and Utah losses.
“It’s a big win for us. There are a lot of doubters out there,” Anthony said. “But we can’t worry about that. We’ve just got to go out there and play the way we’ve been playing the last eight games.”
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich made an eye-opening statement before the game, calling Anthony the NBA’s most improved player.
Anthony made a statement early against Bruce Bowen, hitting three straight jumpers to open the game against a player who has been a constant thorn in his side. The Nuggets built an 18-point first-half lead as Anthony hit seven of his 10 first-half shots. He finished with a game-high 32 points on 13-for-23 shooting.
“When he’s making his shot, I don’t know how you cover him,” Karl said. “I wouldn’t know how to cover him.”
San Antonio’s 17-3 third-quarter run brought Denver back to earth, and the Spurs (53-15) grabbed their first lead of the night when Manu Ginobili converted on a technical foul given to Reggie Evans with 1:33 left in the period. It was one of three technicals in a game that grew more heated as it got closer.
The Nuggets asserted themselves physically, drawing Popovich’s ire for three fouls that sent his players horizontal. Denver also outworked the Spurs 58 to 27 on the boards despite the absence of forward Eduardo Najera (right knee).
“It’s a statement to show we’re getting better as a basketball team,” said Kenyon Martin, who finished with six points. “We played great ball tonight. We came out and did what we did on the road trip. We came out and played.
“That’s just a testament that guys are getting better and we’re getting better as a team.”
Ruben Patterson contributed 17 points for Denver and Camby had 21 rebounds. Ginobili bounced his way to 26 points for San Antonio, while Tim Duncan shook off a 2-for-9 start to finish with 22 points, though he had a quiet six rebounds and missed 8-of-14 free throws.
Staff writer Adam Thompson can be reached at 303-820-5447 or athompson@denverpost.com.
