THE SIDELINES : Nuggets Feel Pressure at Rome

The start of the NBA’s regular season still is two weeks away, but don’t tell the Denver Nuggets that the McDonald’s Open is just another exhibition.

Pride and reputation are at stake for the Nuggets, who open the four-team tournament Friday night against Spanish champion Barcelona. Italian champion Philips Milan faces Jugoplastica Split of Yugoslavia in the other game.

Coming from the NBA, the Nuggets are expected to win. And Denver guard Lafayette (Fat) Lever, for one, doesn’t want to make history as the first NBA team to lose in the McDonald’s Open.

“We’ve got a lot of pressure on us,” Lever said after today’s practice. “We don’t want to lose here and have to go back to the NBA and have people say, ‘How could you lose to those guys? You must be the worst team in the NBA.’ ”