Clippers Win First Series in 30 Years

The Los Angeles Clippers' Cuttino Mobley reacts as he moves down court in the first half against the Denver Nuggets during game five of the first round at the NBA Western Conference Playoffs Monday, May 1, 2006 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) (Chris Carlson - AP)

"It's just a great feeling," said Brand, who played in 544 regular-season games before making his playoff debut April 22. "It's still kind of surreal. I might not appreciate it until we start the second round."

The Clippers meet the winner of the Lakers-Suns series. The Lakers take a 3-1 lead into Tuesday night's game in Phoenix.

Should the Clippers face the Lakers, it would be the first postseason meeting ever between Los Angeles teams in the NBA, NFL or major league baseball.

Cassell was one Clipper who made it clear who he'd like to face next.

"I was always a Laker fan _ Magic Johnson, James Worthy, my main man Norm Nixon," Cassell said. "Kobe Bryant's my favorite player. It would be the battle of Hollywood _ it would be great for the city."

Cassell and Chris Kaman scored 10 points apiece and Shaun Livingston had eight points and 14 assists for the Clippers. Maggette, Brand, Kaman and Livingston are making their postseason debuts this spring.

Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, Greg Buckner added 20 and Andre Miller had 15 points, six rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets, who went 1-16 this season when scoring less than 90 points.

"We definitely kept him in check," Brand said of Anthony, who shot 8-of-24 Monday night.

The Nuggets were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

"This one hurts worse than the other two," Anthony said. "We have issues. I saw guys who did not want to be here and play in this game. We did not play playoff basketball in this series.

"I don't want to be like Kevin Garnett and take eight years to get out of the first round."

The Nuggets haven't won a playoff series since 1994.

"It's definitely disappointing and frustrating not to get out of the first round," said Denver's Marcus Camby, who had six points and 11 rebounds. "We had dreams of winning the championship."

The Nuggets shot 6-of-9 to start the third quarter while outscoring the Clippers 14-9 to draw within one point.

But that's as close as the Nuggets would get.

Maggette and Brand each scored six points and Mobley added four in a 20-3 run to finish the third period and start the fourth, giving the Clippers a 75-57 lead. The Nuggets shot 1-of-12 during the spurt.

The Clippers led by as many as 25 points in the final period.

The Clippers outscored the Nuggets 17-8 to finish the second quarter for a 46-40 halftime lead, and they were on top the rest of the way.

Notes:@ Clippers C Zeljko Rebraca was inactive for the game after feeling chest pains during warmups. He missed 50 games while playing for Detroit in the 2002-03 season because of an irregular heartbeat, and 24 earlier this season for the same reason. He said he wasn't concerned, adding: "Everything is under control." ... Brand, who scored all but three of his points in the second half, was presented with the Joe Dumars Trophy as the NBA Sportsmanship Award winner before the game. ... Denver's Reggie Evans was fined $10,000 and assessed a flagrant foul penalty two for what the NBA called "unnecessary and excessive conduct" with Kaman in Saturday night's game. ... The Nuggets averaged 100.3 points per game during the regular season, but only 87.4 in this series.