ROSS, MOBLEY HAVE GOT ANTHONY COVERED.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE Staff Writer

Quinton Ross was walking gingerly around the Clippers dressing room with a huge bag of ice draped around his lower back. A few feet away, Cuttino Mobley slumped down in a chair and let out a heavy sigh.

For Ross and Mobley, the exhaustion of trying to slow down Nuggets high- scoring forward Carmelo Anthony was obvious after the Clippers 89-87 first-round playoff victory over the Nuggets on Saturday at raucous Staples Center.

But so was the satisfaction.

Anthony finished with 25 points, but it came on 9-of-26 shooting and every shot he took seemed to be off balance, challenge or contested.

His last two attempts with a chance to pull the Nuggets even - one with six seconds left and the other at the buzzer - were both hopelessly off target.

Mobley, who took over for Ross on Anthony after the Nuggets went to a small lineup in the second half, had a hand in Anthony's face both times.

``That's all you can do, man,'' a tired Mobley said. ``The guy is a tough, tough matchup. He's one of the top threes in the league and he doesn't make it easy. He's big and strong and quick, so you just try to chase him around put a body on him and make it tough for him.''

Anthony, who averaged 26 points in the regular season and was the top scorer in the league in pressure situations, said he never got a clean look on his last two attempts.

``I knew it was going to be difficult but you can't miss it if you don't take it,'' said Anthony, who conceded he was forced into bad looks on both attempts.

Ross drew Anthony to start the game, even though the two players couldn't be any more different.

Ross is rail thin at 6-foot-6 and 195pounds; Anthony looks better suited for the NFL at 6 feet 8 and 230 pounds.

``Physically, it's a total mismatch,'' Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. ``There's no way Quinton Ross should be able to guard Carmelo Anthony.''

But Ross does have one thing going for him.

``He's just really tough,'' Dunleavy said.

Ross auditioned for the job earlier this month when the Clippers and Nuggets played at Staples Center. He got the assignment by default when Dunleavy, fed up with the way the Nuggets rolled through the first half while scoring a NBA season-high 77 points and shooting a season-high 81 percent from the field, put Ross on Anthony to start the second half.

Anthony had scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first half, but with Ross draped all over him in the second he was limited to four points on 1-of-8 shooting.

The Clippers won the game 111-109 and Dunleavy found his Anthony stopper.

``I just wanted to make it hard for him and use my quickness to my advantage,'' Ross said. ``I thought it worked for the most part.''

``I have to use my quickness against him. Like when he gets the ball on the perimeter go up quick for a block shot so I can at least contest it, make him alter it a little bit.''

Mobley took over when the Nuggets used a smaller lineup with speedy guard Earl Boykins, forcing Ross to Boykins.

Like Ross, Mobley is considerably smaller than Anthony.

``You just try to run with him, get down the court and seal him off until the double team comes,'' Mobley said. ``The thing you don't want to do is give him an easy shot. The tougher you make it, the better.''

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The Clippers' Quinton Ross, right, held his own guarding Denver star Carmelo Anthony. Anthony also got attention on defense from Cuttino Mobley.

Noah Graham/Getty Images