Nuggets break playoff funk, eliminate Hornets

DENVER - With a little help from the hometown kid, Carmelo Anthony is finally moving on.

Behind Anthony’s 34 points and the floor leadership of Chauncey Billups, the Denver native who came home this season and galvanized a city and a team, the Nuggets advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs, 107-86 over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.

After five straight first-round flameouts, ’Melo led the Nuggets to their first playoff series win since 1994. They’ll face the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

“That monkey is awful heavy sometimes,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “I’m just really happy for ’Melo.”

Monkey?

“It took me five years to get that gorilla off my back,” said Anthony, drafted third overall by the Nuggets in 2003 after leading Syracuse to the national title in his only college season. “And it’s a great feeling. I’m just going to soak this time up, this moment.”

Dallas advanced to the Western Conference semifinals by defeating San Antonio in five games. Denver swept the season series with the Mavericks 4-0.

“I think they’re as good as any team in the West,” Hornets coach Byron Scott said of the Nuggets. “I think the Lakers are probably the best team in the Western Conference. That would be a great matchup.”

Anthony’s 34 points were a career playoff best. Billups had 13 points and 11 assists, and J.R. Smith scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half to fuel Denver, which needed just five games to go from traditional first-round fodder to a playoff success story.

“I thought we could be a good team,” Karl said. “But I never thought we could be this good.”

Billups, who led the Pistons to six straight Eastern Conference finals before joining the Nuggets in the Allen Iverson trade in November, flashed his famous smile after the buzzer.

“It feels good. It feels great actually, especially me being a hometown kid and kind of from afar following the struggles that they’ve had the last five years in the first round,” Billups said. “It’s crazy, that monkey is big on everybody’s shoulders around here. It’s good to get that off, even though I haven’t lost in the first round in a long time.