Anthony, Iverson overwhelm Spurs

The Denver Nuggets have been here before, and this time around, they’re not going to get too excited about it.

In 2005 the Nuggets beat San Antonio in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs on the road before losing the next four to a Spurs team that went on to win the NBA championship.

The Nuggets did it again Sunday night, beating the Spurs, 95-89, in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series with Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony leading the way.

“We came out to get Game 1, but we also want to get Game 2,” Denver center Marcus Camby said.

If Iverson and Anthony play this well again, the Nuggets have a good shot. Anthony scored 30 points and Iverson had 31, including 29 after the first quarter.

“Two years ago we probably were just happy to be in the playoffs,” Anthony said. “Now we ain’t just happy to be in the playoffs. We know we’re a good team and when we play good we can play with the best of them.”

And the Nuggets played tough defense too, limiting Tim Duncan to 14 points.

“They stopped us, doing the things we wanted to do, and we couldn’t stop their two stars,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s really the bottom line. Their defense outplayed us.”

Tony Parker led San Antonio with 19 points.

Cleveland 97, Washington 82 -- Staying in the game despite rolling his ankle in the third quarter, LeBron James had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 44 minutes to lead the Cavaliers in the series opener at Cleveland.

Larry Hughes had 27 points for Cleveland. Antawn Jamison finished with 28 points for Washington.