Spurs turn ice cold, lose to Nuggets

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs couldn’t stop missing, and the Denver Nuggets walked off as winners.

Andre Miller scored 31 points and Denver held San Antonio without a field goal for more than 10 minutes of the fourth quarter Sunday as the Nuggets defeated the Spurs 93-87 in the opening game of their first-round playoff series.

Glenn Robinson made a 14-footer with 10:20 left in the game to put San Antonio up 81-76, but it would be the Spurs’ last basket until Robert Horry hit a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left. In between, San Antonio missed 17 consecutive shots – including seven by Tim Duncan.

Despite the offensive futility, the Spurs stayed ahead until Earl Boykins made a high-arching jumper over 7-footer Nazr Mohammed with 1:56 remaining to give Denver an 85-84 lead.

The Nuggets then got a short jumper from Marcus Camby and three free throws from Miller to build a seven-point lead in the final minute.

Carmelo Anthony had 14 points, Camby 12 and Kenyon Martin 11 for Denver. Camby, who missed the final three games of the regular season with a hamstring strain, also had 12 rebounds.