LOS ANGELES — J.R. Smith scored 24 points and Gary Forbes added 22, leading the Nuggets to a 108-104 exhibition victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
Arron Afflalo, the only player to start all five preseason games for the Nuggets, scored 16 points. Undrafted rookie center Eric Boateng made his first start and had two points in 22 minutes after averaging 13 minutes in his first three games.
Renaldo Balkman had 11 points in 25 minutes before fouling out with 3:18 left. He also fouled out Thursday night in a 100-95 victory over the Clippers at the Staples Center.
Coach George Karl used only eight players, resting Carmelo Anthony for the second straight game after his 30-point, 14-rebound effort against the Clippers on Thursday and giving the night off to Nene and Chauncey Billups.
The Nuggets also played without the injured Kenyon Martin (left knee), Al Harrington (left foot) and Chris Andersen (right knee). Andersen and Martin both are recovering from surgery.
Reserve forward Brian Cook led Los Angeles with 28 points and seven rebounds, while Chris Kaman saw limited action. Randy Foye added 19 points, including two 3-pointers in the final 13 seconds as the Clippers sliced a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to three.
Forward Blake Griffin, whose rookie season has been delayed a year because of a nondisplaced stress fracture in his left kneecap that occurred in the team’s final preseason game last year and required surgery in January, did not play for precautionary reasons.
The No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft tweaked his ankle early in a 103-91 loss to Utah on Saturday but still played an aggressive 34 1/2 minutes and had 14 rebounds after getting into early foul trouble. He is averaging 15.8 points and 11.5 rebounds in five games.
“I was kind of thinking about giving him the night off anyway, but this made my decision much easier,” new coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He’s fine, but we just want to be smart.”
