These Spurs suddenly look more king of the mountain than over the hill.

The seasoned Spurs took a 2-1 series lead on the youthful Nuggets with a 96-91 victory Saturday night that was fueled by two old pros with a combined quarter century of NBA experience.

With Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker doing the heavy lifting as usual, 36-year-old Robert Horry and 34-year-old Michael Finley put the game out of reach with a flurry of 3-pointers in the third quarter.

The NBA announced today that Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets has won the 2006-07 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

The 6-11 forward/center averaged a league-high 3.30 blocks to go along with 11.7 rpg (tied for fourth in the NBA), 11.2 ppg and a career-high 3.2 apg. Camby led the Nuggets in starts (70) and recorded a career-best 32 games with double figures in both points and rebounds. Camby also led all centers in steals (1.24 spg), while his assists were second among centers.

Since entering the NBA in 1996, Camby has been one of the game?s best shot blockers.  His career average of 2.56 blocks ranks fourth among all active players and has led the league in blocks on three occasions ? 1997-98, 2005-06 and 2006-07.  Camby joins George Johnson, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon and Theo Ratliff with three blocked shots titles, and is just one title behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Eaton for the most all-time.

Camby received 431 points, including 70 first-place votes, from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.

San Antonio?s Bruce Bowen finished second with 206 points and his teammate Tim Duncan finished third with 158 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

David Stern will be in Denver for Game 3 of the Nuggets/Spurs series, fueling increasing speculation that Marcus Camby will win the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Until they officially announce it or I see it across the (TV) screen, I don't get my hopes up," Camby said Thursday.

"It would be the greatest award I've received, other than college player of the year (at the University of Massachusetts in 1996). There are so many great people that won the award."

After San Antonio's 97-88 win Wednesday in Game 2, Denver coach George Karl was amazed guard Allen Iverson didn't get a single free-throw attempt despite hoisting 25 shots.

On Thursday, Karl reiterated his frustration with the officials, and J.R. Smith said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili gets away with traveling.

"He's got that Eurostep that's unbelievable," the Nuggets guard said of Ginobili, a native of Argentina who once played in Italy. "It's really tough to guard him. . . . He takes an extra step every time he gets to the paint. It just so happens they never call a walk. It always works for him, so I might try it."

It's not the first time the Nuggets have questioned Ginobili in the playoffs. Two years ago, Karl said his physical style was "ugly."

Manu Ginobili knew Game 2 would have to be different after the Spurs' top three scorers delivered less-than-stellar performances in the opening-game loss to the Nuggets.

He was right and the Spurs won 97-88 on Wednesday night to even the first-round series.

"A sense of urgency is what kept us matching that aggressiveness," Ginobili said. "Today we were much more aggressive. We fight for loose balls and boards and that's what we've got to do every single game."

Eduardo Najera isn't content to just be a player. He also wants to be an owner.

The Nuggets' forward, broadcaster TV Azteca and several soccer clubs have tentatively agreed to form a professional basketball league in Mexico.

Najera, the only Mexican athlete in the NBA, wants to own a team in Chihuahua, his home state, according to Roberto Gonzalez, his manager.

The Nuggets have been here before, and this time around, they're not going to get too excited about it.

In 2005 the Nuggets beat the Spurs in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs on the road before losing the next four to a San Antonio team that went on to win the NBA championship.

The Nuggets did it again Sunday night, beating the Spurs 95-89 in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series with Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony leading the way.

Keith Van Horn will consider a comeback next year, according to his agent.

His best option is probably Denver, as he can stay close to his four kids in Evergreen, Colo.

The New Jersey Nets? Vince Carter and the Denver Nuggets? Carmelo Anthony today were named Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for April, 2007.

Carter led the East in scoring with 29.0 ppg and he recorded two triple-doubles, his third and fourth of his career, while leading the Nets to a 7-2 record in the month and helping them secure the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Anthony helped lead the Nuggets to a 10-1 record in April and the sixth seed in the Western Conference Playoffs.  He ranked second in the NBA in scoring (28.9 ppg) and second in points per 48 minutes (36.3 ppg).  Anthony also moved into seventh place on the Nuggets all-time scoring list, passing Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, in the Nuggets? 114-103 victory over the Sonics on April 1. He finished the season with 7,286 career points.

Marcus Camby, the NBA's leader in blocked shots, sat out Denver's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night as a precaution.

Camby, who leads the league with 3.3 blocks per game, bruised his right knee in the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' loss at Memphis on Saturday night and is listed as day-to-day.