Nuggets reach West finals

The Denver Nuggets are leaving all the animosity with the Dallas Mavericks’ players, fans and owner Mark Cuban behind and are heading to their first Western Conference finals since 1985.

Behind 30 points from Carmelo Anthony and 28 from Chauncey Billups, the Nuggets beat the Mavericks, 124-110, on Wednesday night to wrap up their semifinal series in five feisty games.

The Nuggets, who are 8-2 in the playoffs after tying their franchise record with a 54-win regular season, will face the Lakers or Houston for the conference championship.

“It’s special,” Anthony said after the Nuggets’ 16th consecutive home win. “We stuck to everything, we overcame adversity, we stayed humble and our hard work paid off.”

The Nuggets shot 64% in the first half to take a 69-55 lead.

The Mavericks wouldn’t go down easily, though, making five straight three-point shots, three by Jason Kidd, to pull within 79-72. The lead was down to 103-97 lead with seven minutes left when Anthony took the inbounds pass with two seconds on the shot clock and made a 25-foot jumper at the buzzer.

The Mavericks, led by Dirk Nowitzki’s 32 points, didn’t have another run in them.