Nuggets reach 1st conference finals since 1985

[May 14, 2009]  DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets are leaving all the animosity with the Dallas Mavericks' players, fans and owner behind and are heading to their first Western Conference finals since 1985.

Behind 30 points from Carmelo Anthony and 28 from Chauncey Billups, the Nuggets beat the Mavericks 124-110 on Wednesday night to wrap up their semifinal series in five feisty games.

The Nuggets, who are 8-2 in the playoffs after tying their franchise record with a 54-win regular season, will face either Los Angeles or Houston for the conference championship.

"It's special. We worked hard in the offseason and training camp and throughout," Anthony said. "We stuck to everything, we overcame adversity, we stayed humble and our hard work paid off.

Winners of 16 straight games at the Pepsi Center, where no opponent has won since March 9, the Nuggets would start their next series on the road if the Lakers win, and at home if Houston does. The Lakers lead the series 3-2 with Game 6 Thursday night in Houston.

The Nuggets didn't dare dream of this type of success when the season began in November following the departures of defensive stalwarts Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera.

Then came the biggest trade in team history, Allen Iverson to Detroit for Billups, who turned his hometown team from an afterthought into a championship contender after leading the Pistons to six straight Eastern Conference finals and the NBA championship in 2004.

"He's a leader," Anthony said of Billups. "He came on this team and he brought a businesslike attitude to our team. He brought a defensive mind-set we were looking for."

Fired up from the ugliness on and off the court in Dallas in Games 3 and 4, the Nuggets came out in front of their home crowd with a passion and shot 64 percent in the first half while building a 69-55 lead.

The Mavericks wouldn't go down easily, though, making five straight 3-pointers, three by Jason Kidd, to pull within 79-72.

The Mavericks were within 103-97 with 7 minutes left but Anthony took the inbounds pass and with 2 seconds on the shot clock, hit a turnaround 25-foot jumper at the buzzer. Antoine Wright was assessed a technical and Billups' free throw made it a 10-point game with 6:35 left.

The Mavs didn't have another run in them, and their season ground to a halt much sooner than they expected after dispatching San Antonio in five games in the first round.

Dirk Nowitzki had his usual monster game, scoring 32 points -- he averaged 34.4 in the series -- and Kidd added 19.

"It's not over, we're still on the road man," Billups said. "We are moving on to bigger and better things and hopefully we can remain successful."

Before the game, the NBA said it wouldn't punish anybody over the ugly incidents that occurred on and off the court in the games in Dallas, which included Mavs owner Mark Cuban throwing a fit after a non-call helped Denver win Game 3, when he also yelled at Kenyon Martin's mother.

In Game 4, Anthony shoved Wright to break away from his elbow clamp underneath the basket, resulting in one of a slew of technical fouls.

Cuban wasn't in Denver to hear from the Nuggets' fans Wednesday night as he skipped Game 5 to attend an awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

Cuban had written in his blog this week that the Nuggets' families and friends could sit in his private suite "when the series returns to Dallas."

There didn't appear to be any incidents with the crowd surrounding the Mavericks on Wednesday night other than a small giveaway plastic ball that bounced near their bench as the clock ticked off the final seconds.

Notes: Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle arrived an hour before tip-off after serving as a pallbearer at Chuck Daly's funeral in Florida. ... Dallas fell to 3-6 in conference semifinal series. ... Billups improved to 16-4 in closeout games in his career. ... The Nuggets fell to the Lakers in five games in their last trip to the conference finals 24 years ago. ... Denver F Chris Andersen returned from a bout of food poisoning that kept him out of Game 4 but he had a quiet game, failing to score in 14 minutes.

[Associated Press; By ARNIE STAPLETON]

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