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Nuggets get a Melo 100-95 win over Clippers

Oct 15, 2010 - 6:25 AM LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Whether he wants to play somewhere else or not, the Denver Nuggets just can't afford to trade Carmelo Anthony - particularly after the wave of injuries that have hit the team.

Anthony had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Aaron Afflalo added 27 points and nine boards on the eve of his 25th birthday, and the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 100-95 on Thursday night after blowing an 18-point lead.

Denver played without Kenyon Martin (left knee), Al Harrington (left foot), Chris Anderson (right knee) and Chauncey Billups, who was rested by coach George Karl after playing more than 22 1/2 minutes in his preseason debut on Tuesday.

"I don't know when they're coming back. We're hoping to get Al back for the regular season," Karl said. "We have only three of our five 25-30 minute players, so it's going to be difficult. I told my staff that we have 70 minutes (to dole out), and if we started the season today, I don't know who would be playing those 70 minutes."

Blake Griffin, counting the days before his official NBA debut after a frustrating one-year wait, led the Clippers with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Chris Kaman added 23 points for Los Angeles.

"They were just setting a screen-and-roll and throwing it into Kaman and Griffin for lobs," Denver guard Ty Lawson said. "We were just trying to get bodies on them, hit them and force them to take jump shots. We couldn't let them make dunks all night."

Griffin, the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft, played his first game before the home crowd at Staples Center since last Oct. 23 - when he suffered a non-displaced stress fracture in his left kneecap during the team's final exhibition game against New Orleans. He underwent season-ending surgery three months later after the knee failed to respond to treatment and rehab, and has averaged 15.8 points and 11.5 boards through his first five exhibition games.

"He's a monster out there and he's a mismatch problem out there," Clippers point guard Baron Davis said. "He's a guy who plays hard all the time, so he's going to go out there and give maximum effort. He's like that in practice, too. I'm just happy for him and happy to have him out there on the floor. He's doing really good in this preseason, and now we have to continue to build as a team and make this thing work."

Davis, playing through knee and calf issues, had seven points in 24 minutes during his second game of the preseason. He had a 16 1/2-minute outing in Tuesday's 100-99 loss to San Antonio at Mexico City - a game in which the Clippers blew an 18-point lead.

"I'm just working hard, trying to get better," Davis said. "I'm taking it one day at a time and I'm just in a building process right now. I know my conditioning is not where it should be, but that's what the preseason is for."

Afflalo's two free throws gave Denver a 98-95 edge with 11.5 seconds on the clock. The Clippers had a chance to tie, but Eric Gordon missed a 3-point shot with 5 seconds to go and finished with 19 points. Anthony got the rebound and iced it with two free throws.

Denver opened the third quarter with a 13-3 run that increased its two-point halftime lead to 70-59 with 8:20 left in the period. The Nuggets built the margin to 79-61 on Afflalo's two free throws with 4:25 left in the quarter after Nene picked up his fifth foul.

The Nuggets center was still on the bench when the Clippers opened the fourth with eight straight points, including Davis' first basket of the game, to slice Denver's lead to 84-81 with 8:28 to play. Rasual Butler's two free throws tied it at 86 with 5:57 left, and Davis' three-point play pulled the Clippers even again at 91 with 3:32 remaining.

"We really picked up the energy as a team," Griffin said. "Baron did a great job at the end of the third quarter, and we really had it going in the fourth. That's big for us because a lot of us are new and we're trying to get used to each other. When you have games like this, it just builds your confidence as a team. It's a lot of fun playing with this group and it's going to be a fun year."

NOTES: The only Denver points in the fourth quarter other than those by Anthony and Afflalo came on a short jumper by Shelden Williams with 8:07 remaining. ... It was the first of three games in a four-day span for both clubs, including the annual Staples Shootout with the two-time defending champion Lakers and Utah Jazz. ... Forward Renaldo Balkman, the first player off the Nuggets' bench, picked up four fouls in his first five minutes on the court and fouled out with 2:05 remaining. Teammate Melvin Ely also fouled out early in the fourth ... Butler, who set a Clippers franchise record for 3-pointers made in a season during the 2009-10 campaign, was 1 for 8 from behind the arc and is 9 for 28 from long range during the preseason. ... Clippers fans got their first look at Staples Center's new eight-sided, high-definition scoreboard, which includes four LED video screens underneath so that spectators sitting in the first 20 rows can get a decent view of the replays.