Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points and Chauncey Billups had 28 as the Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks 124-110 on Wednesday night to wrap up their semi-final series in five feisty games.
The Nuggets, heading to their first Western Conference finals since 1985, will face either Los Angeles or Houston for the championship.
“It’s special. We worked hard in the off-season and training camp and throughout,” Anthony said. “We stuck to everything, we overcame adversity, we stayed humble and our hard work paid off.”
PHOTO: EPA
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 or at home if Houston triumph.
The Lakers lead the series 3-2.
The Nuggets, who are 8-2 in the playoffs after tying their franchise record with a 54-win regular season, 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.
Fired up from the ugliness on and off the court in Dallas in Game 3 and Game 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 three-pointers, three by Jason Kidd, to pull within 79-72.
The Mavericks were within 103-97 with seven minutes left, but Anthony took the inbounds pass and with two seconds on the shot clock and hit a turnaround jumper at the buzzer. Antoine Wright was assessed a technical and Billups’ free throw made it a 10-point game.
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.
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