Clippers’ baptism ends with a dunking

DENVER -- It’s over, mercifully but definitely.

The Clippers’ tough gantlet against top-notch Western Conference teams boomeranged back to the Denver Nuggets, this time with a starkly different outcome.

The short-handed Clippers team that surprised the Nuggets a little more than a week ago was still short-handed Friday, but couldn’t catch Denver off-guard this time in a 123-107 loss before 14,230 at the Pepsi Center.

“We just settled,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said after his team’s fourth consecutive loss. “We got off to a good start and basically settled.”

The Clippers started the season with high aspirations after reeling off wins in their first four games.

How quickly times change.

Injuries quickly dampened enthusiasm, and the Clippers lost eight of their next 10, the difficulty of playing without the injured tandem of Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston setting in.

“I’ve been pleased by a lot of our play,” Dunleavy said before Friday’s game. “I think obviously our injuries have set us back some. When we are healthy we can compete with anybody and that’s important to know.”

But they couldn’t compete with the Nuggets on Friday, when a Denver team without Nene, Chucky Atkins and Steven Hunter easily handled a Clippers team without Brand, Livingston and Sam Cassell.

In a game between struggling, injury-afflicted teams, the Nuggets had the two healthy players who mattered most.

Allen Iverson scored 26 points and Carmelo Anthony, fresh from being ejected from Thursday’s loss to the Lakers, added 24 for Denver, which ended a three-game losing streak.

The Nuggets shot 54.1% from the field and hit 10 of their 20 three-point shots, with J.R. Smith hitting six of nine attempts.

“Any team that has two perceived superstars in this league, they’ve got somebody that has the ability to break a game open by themselves,” Dunleavy said.

The Clippers, who held the Nuggets to only three fastbreak points in a 101-90 win on Nov. 21, allowed 14 Friday.

“That’s the first order of business no matter where we play them,” Dunleavy said of limiting Denver’s transition offense.

The Nuggets were one of the first teams this season to contain Chris Kaman, who was saddled with foul trouble early. He still amassed 16 points and nine rebounds while Corey Maggette scored a team-high 26 points.

“We had guys posting up 20 feet from the basket, thinking they had matchups they didn’t complete,” Dunleavy said

There was one lead change. Denver was behind early but never trailed after the first eight minutes.

The Clippers jumped to a 10-point first-quarter lead behind Tim Thomas’ two three-point baskets, the boo birds coming out early. But the Nuggets responded by ending the quarter on a 22-6 run and never letting the Clippers back into the game.

“We just didn’t do the same thing,” said Brevin Knight, who started in place of Cassell and had 13 points and six assists. “When you get a team down, you have to play the same way.

“With a team that has that much offensive power, when you get them down, you have to keep them down.”

Still, the Clippers can look forward to the return of Cassell, who missed the game because of a strained left calf and is targeting Sunday’s game against Indiana for a possible return.

And they begin December with a relatively mild stretch of opponents, especially considering they ended November with home and away games against Denver, the Suns in Phoenix and the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles.

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com