DENVER — The Denver Nuggets left Los Angeles with homecourt advantage in the Western Conference finals after beating the Lakers in the postseason for the first time since 1985.

They didn't exactly skip happily home, however.

For one thing, they're too banged up, Carmelo Anthony's tender ankle, J.R. Smith's strained calf and Kenyon Martin's broken ring finger testament to the rough-and-tumble nature of this tight matchup.

They're also too busy kicking themselves.

The Nuggets, who watched film in L.A. before flying home yesterday and taking the rest of the day off, thought they should have a 2-0 lead going back to Denver.

They're still lamenting their loss in the opener, when Anthony Carter's lazy lob on the inbounds to Chauncey Billups was stolen by Trevor Ariza in the closing seconds to seal the Lakers' improbable win in a game Denver had dominated but failed to seal at the foul line or by getting the ball to a red-hot Anthony in crunch time.

"We played hard, but we didn't play smart," Martin said. "So I feel if we would've (done) that like we did last night it would've been a different outcome in Game 1. But who's to say? It didn't happen that way so we'll take the split, go home and try to get both of those."

Game 3 is tonight at the Pepsi Center, where the Nuggets haven't lost in 11 weeks.

The Lakers feel they, too, should be heading to Denver halfway to winning the best-of-7 series.

"A bounce of the ball here and we're up 2-0," Kobe Bryant said. "A bounce of the ball here and they win Game 1."

That's how close this series is: both times each team has done enough things right to have a shot at the end and enough things wrong to have plenty of regrets.

So, the Nuggets think they squandered away a game in L.A.?

"We probably returned the favor," Bryant said.

Now, he and the rest of the Lakers will try to get the homecourt advantage back.

"They're a good team and they can come in our building and get both games if we don't show up and play," Martin said. "So, we've got to be on our 'A' game."

Indeed, the Lakers were an NBA-best 29-12 on the road in the regular season, although they're just 2-3 away from Staples Center in the playoffs.