Denver ? If not for Nene’s breakout first half, Carmelo Anthony’s fourth-quarter fireworks and Anthony Carter’s defensive deftness wouldn’t have mattered much.

Nene kept Denver in it until his teammates could turn this one into another laugher, scoring 18 of his playoff career-high 24 points in the first half of the Nuggets’ 109-95 rout of the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday in the opener of their second-round series.

“‘Melo in foul trouble and kind of searching for an offensive confidence, we got it from Nene,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “The balance of our team has quietly been a strength of who we are. In the second half ‘Melo got into the game, J.R. (Smith) jumped into the game and our defense was fantastic.”

Nene, who beat testicular cancer last year, played more minutes than ever this season, and over the last month he really hit a wall. In the Nuggets’ five-game dispatch of New Orleans in the first round, he averaged 9.0 points and 7.8 rebounds.

His fantastic first half saved the Nuggets, who poured it on the second half thanks to 20 Dallas turnovers, eight by Jason Kidd, who turned over the ball just three times in the first round.

“Offensively, we were good,” Karl said, “but defensively we were really good.”

Thanks to their stifling defense, the Nuggets outscored the Mavericks, 29-4, on fast breaks, but the disparity that really bothered Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was the 36-13 advantage Denver had at the line.

“We’re going to have to raise our level of aggression if that’s what’s going to get us to the free throw line,” said Carlisle, who was particularly bothered that Dirk Nowitzki took just four foul shots plus a technical.

Anthony found it funny the Mavs were complaining about whistles because he was in early foul trouble for what he considered questionable calls.

“Foul trouble didn’t bother him, it didn’t freak him out, it didn’t take him to a dark side that we had to worry about,” Karl said. “He trusted the team, the team did great and he came out in the second half and was a leader for us.”