Spurs trounce Nuggets 95-80

Smith hurt in maddening loss; Anthony gets 15, Iverson nine

Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 21, 2007 at midnight

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SAN ANTONIO - There's something about going toward the south basket at the AT&T Center that doesn't agree with the Nuggets.

In November 2005, Nene grimaced in pain under that basket, his season over with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.

In the first half of Tuesday night's 95-80 loss against the San Antonio Spurs, J.R. Smith injured his left knee driving toward that basket. But Smith said after the game he expects to just miss "a game or two."

More won't be known until Smith has a magnetic resonance imaging exam today in Denver. The Nuggets announced he has a knee strain and a possible lateral meniscus tear.

"It ain't that bad," Smith insisted while walking to the team bus.

Tuesday's loss was bad. After taking a 13-4 lead, the Nuggets (26-26) watched the Spurs go on a 75-35 run to take a 79-48 lead at the end of the third quarter.

"Old-fashioned beatdown" is how Nuggets center Marcus Camby described it, saying the Nuggets "had everything go wrong" after their strong start.

Camby didn't play in the fourth quarter. Neither did forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored a team-high 15 points, his lowest total since the opener, when he was ejected early in the second half with 15.

Tony Parker led the Spurs (36-18), who played their first home game since Jan. 26, with 17 points. He wasn't needed in the fourth quarter as no San Antonio player logged more than 25 minutes.

Playing their first game after the All-Star break, the Nuggets had high hopes, especially with the return of Allen Iverson. He had missed four straight games and eight of nine with a sprained right ankle.

But Iverson made only 3-of-11 shots for nine points, his fewest total since scoring eight with Philadelphia on April 4, 2003.

In addition to ankle trouble, Iverson said he was weakened by the flu and he came down with a sore right hip and swollen left elbow after Jacque Vaughn banged into him during the second half.

"That was a tough one for me," Iverson said. "The shots that I took, I know that I can hit those shots with my eyes closed. Maybe I should have closed them. . . . Usually when I come back from an injury, I still have my rhythm. But I didn't have it."

Nobody on the Nuggets did.

"It was a real bad loss," Iverson said. "It's just one you forget about. It humbles you."

Iverson appeared to reinjure his ankle when he was limping late in the first half, but he said it ended up feeling OK. He said he felt pain in his Achilles' tendon several times, but that his Achilles has checked out fine.

Most of the concern was about Smith. He said he banged into Robert Horry going down the lane in the second quarter.

"As long as I can walk, I'm all right," he said. "It ain't going to be long."

Even if Smith does have a lateral meniscus tear, the Clippers' Corey Maggette played on that injury in 2002-03. Portland rookie Brandon Roy missed seven games as a Washington junior in 2004-05 because of that injury.

Still, Camby is "definitely concerned" about Smith. Coach George Karl said he'll reserve judgment until today when he has "solid" instead of "guessing information."

Nene scored 13 points in his first game at the AT&T Center since his knee injury. He said he didn't "think nothing" about returning.

Nothing was close to the offense the Nuggets generated from midway through the first quarter to the start of the fourth. Only a surge during garbage time prevented the Nuggets, who committed 20 turnovers and shot 42.5 percent, from suffering their worst loss of the season. Still, the 80-point total was a season low.

"That's great defense," said Spurs center Francisco Elson, who totaled nine points and eight rebounds in his first game against the Nuggets after playing his first three seasons with them. "I'm making a statement that from now on, the Spurs are playing defense and that's how we need to be doing it."

There were no bold statements from the other locker room.

"We just got outworked and outplayed in every area of basketball until the fourth quarter," Karl said. "One of my pet peeves is playing on the road after the All-Star break. It seems like it's hard to get focused."

For now, at least the Nuggets are hopeful what happened under the south basket at the AT&T Center won't be anywhere near as bad as what occurred 15 months ago.

		FG	FT	Reb
DENVER	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Anthony	29:03	6-15	3-4	4-8	0	3	15
Nene	30:06	5-8	3-7	2-4	2	4	13
Camby	22:02	4-7	1-1	0-8	0	3	9
Iverson	35:17	3-11	3-4	1-3	5	2	9
Blake	32:26	4-10	0-0	0-1	7	0	8
Najera	18:29	0-3	1-2	0-2	0	3	1
Kleiza	25:46	3-6	0-0	0-4	0	5	8
Smith	8:05	0-4	0-0	0-0	1	0	0
Evans	18:14	2-4	0-0	4-9	0	3	4
Diawara	13:49	0-1	2-2	0-1	0	0	2
Johnson	3:58	4-4	0-0	0-1	0	0	11
Sampson	2:45	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	1	0
Totals	240	31-73	13-20	11-42	15	24	80

Percentages - FG .425, FT .650. Three-point goals - 5-13, .385 (Johnson 3-3, Kleiza 2-4, Diawara 0-1, Blake 0-1, Smith 0-2, Iverson 0-2). Team rebounds - 8. Team turnovers - 20 (26 pts.). Blocked shots - 6 (Camby 3, Anthony, Diawara, Sampson). Turnovers - 18 (Anthony 4, Camby 4, Iverson 3, Smith 2, Blake 2, Kleiza, Evans, Nene). Steals - 7 (Smith 2, Blake 2, Camby, Iverson, Nene). Technicals - None.

		FG	FT	Reb
S.A.	Min	M-A	M-A	O-T	A	PF	Pts
Bowen	24:22	4-9	0-0	0-1	1	2	9
Duncan	25:06	4-9	4-6	0-6	3	2	12
Elson	24:26	4-8	1-2	4-8	1	3	9
Barry	25:18	3-9	0-0	1-3	1	0	7
Parker	24:08	7-11	3-4	0-3	5	0	17
Ginobili	19:25	6-8	2-5	2-3	4	2	14
Horry	18:01	1-5	0-2	2-6	1	2	3
Vaughn	18:25	2-4	1-2	0-1	3	1	5
Finley	20:46	4-7	0-0	0-2	0	1	9
Oberto	15:39	1-4	1-2	1-5	1	5	3
Bonner	12:24	1-6	0-2	2-2	0	2	3
Udrih	12:00	1-2	2-2	0-1	1	0	4
Totals	240	38-82	14-27	12-41	21	20	95

Percentages - FG .463, FT .519. Three-point goals - 5-19, .263 (Bonner 1-1, Finley 1-2, Bowen 1-3, Horry 1-4, Barry 1-6, Duncan 0-1, Ginobili 0-2). Team rebounds - 15. Team turnovers - 9 (15 pts.). Blocked shots - 3 (Bowen, Horry, Elson). Turnovers - 8 (Parker 4, Barry, Finley, Horry, Elson). Steals - 9 (Parker 2, Barry, Bowen, Duncan, Finley, Ginobili, Horry, Vaughn). Technicals - None.