Camby, Nuggets roll past Blazers

Voshon Lenard chipped in 17 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, while Carmelo Anthony scored 14 points for the Nuggets, who won their first game after losing two straight to start the season.

Andre Miller dished out 10 assists for Denver, which outscored Portland 30- to-11 in the fourth quarter.

Denver head coach George Karl returned to the bench after serving a two-game suspension for violating league rules that prohibits contact between NBA players not eligible for the draft.

"We caught a young team and jumped on them early," said Karl. "We rebounded the ball well, especially our guards and that leads to instant fast breaks."

Darius Miles led Portland with 13 points, while Zach Randolph added 12 for the Trail Blazers, who never led in the contest. Miles and Randolph each pulled down eight rebounds in the loss.

Portland managed only 12 fast break points to Denver’s 32, as the Trail Blazers are now 0-2 on the young season.

In the first quarter, Denver found itself with just a two point lead after a Randolph basket made it 14-12 just over five minutes into the first. The Nuggets then used a 6-0 run, capped with a Miller jump shot, to go up 20-12 and Denver would later close out the frame on a 10-2 run for a 30-17 first quarter lead.

Miles would pull the Trail Blazers to within 32-23 before Earl Boykins’ jumper just under three minutes into the second frame started a 17-7 Nugget run that was capped with a Camby basket with 3:32 left in the first half. Both teams would then go cold and Denver led at the half 50-36.

The Nuggets opened up the third frame with a 9-0 run and Camby’s basket midway through the third extended Denver’s lead to 64-42. The quarter stayed all Denver as an Eduardo Najera’s free throw kept the Nuggets up by 22 at 70-48 with three minutes left in the quarter and Boykins’ jump shot with just five seconds remaining in the stanza staked the Nuggets to a 77-57 lead heading into the fourth.

"George told us to go out and just play fast tonight," said Camby. "If we continue to play like we did tonight and continue getting better, we shouldn’t have any problems."

Denver stayed on top as Francisco Elson’s basket put the home team up 82-57 to finish off a 5-0 run to start the frame. However, Portland would run off eight straight points to cut it to 82-65 but would get no closer and the Nuggets ended the last 4:30 of the game on a 16-0 run to account for the final score.

Game Notes

This was the second straight game for Portland on the road...Portland still leads the all-time series 72-55, but Denver leads 41-22 at home...Camby recorded his second straight double-double. He netted 19 points and 14 rebounds against the Lakers on Wednesday...The Nuggets have now won four straight against Portland...Ruben Patterson scored 10 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers.