CLIPPERS SURVIVE HOLDS ON TO DEFEAT NUGGETS CLIPPERS 89, DENVER 87.

Byline: JOE STEVENS Staff Writer

A sea of red and blue overtook Staples Center, and for the first time in the seven-year NBA history of the arena, purple and gold did not dominate the look of playoff basketball in Los Angeles.

Playing in their first playoff game in nine years, the Clippers got defensive stops when they needed them most to edge the Denver Nuggets 89-87 in Game 1 of the Western Conference first round on Saturday night.

The Clippers led by as many as 16points and were up by 10 with 4:10 left. But Denver battled back to have the ball trailing by two with 4.5 seconds left.

As Carmelo Anthony got the ball, Cuttino Mobley knocked it away, but in a crowd of three defenders, Anthony regained the ball and threw up a shot that hit the rim at the buzzer.

"I didn't know he was going to gather himself," Mobley said. "He gathered himself, and he's one of the best in the game."

Said Anthony: "I don't even know or remember the last couple of shots at the end of the game. One play I tried to drive to the basket. I thought it was a foul, but obviously, it wasn't."

Was the conclusion way closer than it should have been?

"Nobody ever said it was going to be easy," Mobley said. "If it were easy, everybody in the league would be in the playoffs. That's just what playoff basketball is all about. I don't know if you guys are used to it."

The Clippers certainly are not. It was their first playoff win since May 5, 1993, when they beat Houston in a series they ended up losing.

In the 35-year history of the franchise, they have won just one playoff series - in 1975 when the team was the Buffalo Braves.

By holding on to beat Denver, the Clippers ultimately did what they did all season - win with defense.

Elton Brand had a key block on Anthony with 45.9seconds left, and the Clippers held the Nuggets to 38.5 percent shooting.

Another key was how the Clippers distributed their scoring. Brand, Mobley, Chris Kaman and Sam Cassell each scored at least 15points, while the Nuggets had just two players - Anthony and Andre Miller - in double figures.

The Clippers seemed to grasp control of the game after Mobley made two consecutive 3-points shots to put them up 74-58 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.

Shortly after that, Cassell made a jumper, and then the Clippers went dry, going 6:31 without scoring in which Cassell sat for 5:27 of the drought. He finally came back in and nailed a 3-point shot.

In crunch time, the Clippers had a similar drought, going the final 4:10 with just two free throws.

Though it appeared as if the Clippers' playoff inexperience had floated to the surface, but coach Mike Dunleavy dismissed that idea.

"I thought our guys did great, just how I expected them to do," he said. "They shot 38 percent from the field. I thought, defensively, we were pretty good. It wasn't our coverage, but loose balls and rebounds that went off our hands. So me of them were so badly shot, we were surprised."

If Dunleavy's relatively inexperienced playoff team had to learn anything, he said it was that his players had to become accustomed to not having a lot of whistles pop out. It was a physical game in which borderline fouls were rarely called and officials allowed the players to be physical.

In other words, it was typically playoff basketball.

"We got a flavor of the playoffs now, for guys who haven't been there," said Brand, who played in his first playoff game of his seven-year career. "We know how the refs call it. It's great to win, but we're a little disappointing we le it slip a way a little bit."

Though Dunleavy did not say the droughts brought out red flags, his 36-year-old veteran point guard, Cassell, was a little more critical because Denver frequently beat the Clippers to loose balls.

"We have to hustle," Cassell said. "We shouldn't let a team out-hustle us because we haven't accomplished anything. This team hasn't accomplished anything yet."

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 5 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Clippers' Cuttino Mobley reacts after hitting a 3-pointer during L.A.'s 89-87 victory over Denver on Saturday.

(2) no caption (Mike Dunleavy and Sam Cassell)

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(3) Clippers forward Elton Brand grabs a rebound during Saturday's Western Conference first-round game. Brand finished with 21 points and eight rebounds in the Clippers' win.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) HERO

(2) GOAT

(3) THEY SAID IT

(4) QUARTER BY QUARTER

(5) CLIPPERS vs. DENVER