Denver thinks it’s in a good place

A year ago, when the Denver Nuggets arrived at Staples Center for a playoff series, the top-seeded Lakers quickly pushed eighth-seeded Denver out the door with an opening-round sweep.

As the Lakers play host to the Nuggets tonight at Staples Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, Denver is upbeat about the matchup.

“Our confidence is a lot higher and we’re playing a lot better basketball than we were last year,” said Nuggets power forward Kenyon Martin. “Everything is different about this team than we were last year.”

That starts with the Nuggets advancing this far in the playoffs. Denver last reached the Western Conference finals in 1985 and had not won a first-round series in the last five years.

After the Lakers’ sweep, the Nuggets traded center Marcus Camby to the Clippers to clear up salary cap space and did not re-sign free-agent forward Eduardo Najera. Assistant coaches Doug Moe and Mike Dunlap resigned.

Meanwhile, Nuggets Coach George Karl emphasized more defensive drills in the off-season, a facet Karl and his players say proved instrumental en route to a franchise-best 54-28 regular-season record.

In the playoffs, Denver beat both New Orleans and Dallas in five games and has forced 16.4 turnovers a game.

Karl hopes that formula also works against the Lakers.

“I don’t think you can change your personality,” Karl said. “I don’t think we can win an offensive game against the Lakers. I think we have to win at least two games with our defense.”

The defensive philosophy wasn’t the only catalyst. Three games into the season, the Nuggets traded guard Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for point guard Chauncey Billups, who is making his seventh straight conference finals appearance.

Billups has helped reinforce some ideas that, Karl says, “I’ve been saying for two or three years that they’ve gotten tired of listening to.”

Billups is averaging 22.2 points a game in the playoffs and is shooting 54.1% from three-point range.

“I was just going to be me. I’m a leader by nature so it pretty much worked itself out,” he said.

The Nuggets will soon find out whether the same formula works against the Lakers in the postseason.

They went 1-3 against them in the regular season, and forward Carmelo Anthony averaged only 14.5 points a game on 32.8% shooting against the Lakers.

“We’re not really going to know what schemes to throw at them or where to adjust to until after Game 1,” said Anthony, who has averaged 27 points a game in the playoffs. “Game 1 is very important for us to come out, play hard, play strong, play physical and play our game.”

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mark.medina@latimes.com