DENVER - Andre Miller scored a playoff career-high 28 points and made a nifty layup with 1.3 seconds left that lifted the Denver Nuggets to a 97-95 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
Miller drove left past rookie Draymond Green, used an up-and-under move between two defenders under the basket and banked the ball off the backboard with his right hand.
The Warriors inbounded the ball, but Stephen Curry’s desperation three-pointer wasn’t anywhere close as the horn sounded and the Nuggets celebrated their 24th consecutive victory at the Pepsi Center. Game 2 is Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center, where the Nuggets posted an NBA-best 38-3 home record during the season.
Miller scored 18 in the frenetic fourth quarter.
“It could have went either way tonight, so we have to be better prepared on Tuesday,” Miller said.
The Warriors trailed 93-92 when Curry had the ball stolen by Ty Lawson, whose layup made it a three-point game with 35 seconds remaining.
Curry, who made a record 272 three-pointers this season, caught a pass from Jarrett Jack and made a contested three-pointer with Lawson all over him with 14.5 seconds left.
Miller inbounded the ball, then got it back and isolated on Green until the driving to the hoop for the winning bucket.
“We found a way to pull it out,” Miller said. “This was a tough game.”
The sixth-seeded Warriors, playing in their first playoff game in six seasons, lost All-Star David Lee to a possible right hip flexor strain in the fourth quarter when he banged into JaVale McGee. He shot both free throws but couldn’t run back down court and was taken for X-rays.
Lee finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds, all but two off the defensive end. Klay Thompson led Golden State with 22 points and Curry had 19. Jarret Jack added 10 points and 10 assists.
Center Andrew Bogut, who has been bothered by a bone bruise on his surgically repaired left ankle, had 14 rebounds and nine points for the Warriors.
Corey Brewer sparked a 13-2 run that the Nuggets used to take a 71-64 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Warriors responded to Lee’s injury by quickly erasing an eight-point deficit.
Then Miller took over. Trying to make it out of the first round for the first time in his 13-year NBA career, he came up with several big baskets in the final period.
The frenetic finish followed a plodding first 2½quarters that wasn’t anything like the high-octane, run-and run game everyone expected. That notion fizzled in the first half with a rash of poor shooting, too many turnovers and a bunch of debatable calls. Denver would have matched its lowest point total for a first half if not for Wilson Chandler’s breakaway basket at the buzzer that pulled the third-seeded Nuggets to 48-44 at halftime.
In their three home losses this season, the Nuggets managed 42 first-half points against Miami on Nov. 15, 43 against Minnesota on Jan. 3 and 50 against Washington on Jan. 18, before winning their last 23 home games heading into the playoffs.
EASTERN CONFERENCE KNICKS 85, CELTICS 78
NEW YORK - Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points, and New York beat Boston in their playoff opener.
After knocking the Celtics from the top of the Atlantic Division, the Knicks took the first step to knocking them out of the playoffs by holding Boston to three baskets and eight points in the final quarter.
Anthony, the NBA’s scoring leader, shot only 13 for 29 from the field but scored eight points in the fourth quarter, including consecutive baskets late in the period that finally gave the Knicks breathing room in a tight game.
Game 2 is Tuesday night before the Celtics host Game 3 on Friday in what will be their first home game since the Boston Marathon bombings.
Jeff Green scored 26 points and Paul Pierce added 21 for the Celtics, who badly missed injured point guard Rajon Rondo, committing 21 turnovers that led to 20 points. The Knicks got their hands on the ball at will in the fourth quarter, when Boston made just 3 of 11 from the floor.
Kevin Garnett had eight points and nine rebounds but shot only 4 of 12 from the field. Jason Terry, another veteran on a young Celtics team, missed all five shots he took after coming off the bench.
The Celtics led after three quarters and tied the game for the final time at 72 on Garnett’s basket with 8:13 remaining.Anthony then made consecutive jumpers, and after the Celtics pulled within three later in the period, he made a layup and a long jumper that gave New York an 83-76 advantage with 1:21 left.
Green made two free throws and the Celtics double-teamed Anthony, but he fired a pass to a wide-open Kenyon Martin under the basket to put it away with 40 seconds left.
J.R. Smith scored 15 points and Raymond Felton had 13 for the Knicks, while Martin finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Knicks ended the Celtics’ five-year reign as Atlantic Division champions by going 54-28, winning their first division title since 1994 with their most victories since going 57-25 in 1996-97. The next step would be playoff success for New York, which hasn’t won a postseason series since 2000 and couldn’t even get a game against the Celtics two years ago.
The Celtics wore a special patch recognizing the difficult week in Boston following the bombings that killed three people at the Boston Marathon on Monday. Coach Doc Rivers said many players were calling home to check on their families Friday, when the Boston area was in lock down while authorities searched for the suspect. That even affected the Celtics, as Rondo, out for the season with a knee injury, was unable to join the team Friday in New York because he couldn’t get out.
The Boston Fire Dept. Color Guard and FDNY color guard carried the flags onto the court before the national anthem, and Anthony and Pierce addressed the crowd before the game, with a few fans booing Pierce before many others yelled “Shhh!” so he could speak.
“Boston will rise and run again,” Pierce said.
NETS 106, BULLS 89
NEW YORK - Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and the Nets turned the Brooklyn blackout into a blowout, beating Chicago in Game 1 of their playoff series.
Williams scored 22 points, Lopez had 21 and the Nets ripped apart the Bulls’ defense with a spectacular second quarter, when they made 16 of 20 shots.
Joe Johnson (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) finished with 16 points for the Nets, who made their successful first season in Brooklyn even better with a victory in their first playoff appearance since 2007. They will host Game 2 on Monday night.
The Nets wore their road black uniforms and fans were encouraged to wear black as well to make it a “blackout” for the first major postseason game in Brooklyn since Oct. 10, 1956, when the Yankees beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series at Ebbets Field.
The Nets then came out white-hot, shooting nearly 56 percent with six players scoring at least 10 points each.
Carlos Boozer had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Bulls, who had Joakim Noah in the starting lineup despite foot pain. Noah was clearly limited, and there was no reason to play him more than the 14 minutes he played with the game never in doubt after halftime.
At a glance All times Central (x-if necessary)
FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7)
SATURDAY’S GAMES
New York 85, Boston 78
New York leads series 1-0 Denver 97, Golden State 95
Denver leads series 1-0 Brooklyn 106, Chicago 89
Brooklyn leads series 1-0 Memphis at LA Clippers, (n)
TODAY’S GAMES
Atlanta at Indiana, noon
LA Lakers at San Antonio, 2:30 p.m.
Milwaukee at Miami, 6 p.m.
Houston at Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m.
MONDAY’S GAMES
Chicago at Brooklyn, 7 p.m.
Memphis at LA Clippers, 9:30 p.m.
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Milwaukee at Miami, 6:30 p.m.
Boston at New York, 7 p.m.
Golden State at Denver, 9:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Houston at Oklahoma City, 6 p.m.
Atlanta at Indiana, 6:30 p.m.
LA Lakers at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 30 on 04/21/2013