Emotions were slightly mixed for the Los Angeles Clippers a day after their first postseason victory in 13 years.

There was the good feeling that accompanies winning, of course. But there was also some discomfort that comes with blowing a 10-point lead in the last 4 minutes.

“I’m not happy with the way we played late in the game. The last quarter, we were terrible,” said Chris Kaman, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds in the Clippers’ 89-87 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.

The Clippers were outscored 21-13 in the final period, shooting 3-of-10 and being outrebounded 14-5.

“We played them good, we had them going. We’ve got to keep the pressure on, punish them,” Kaman said after practice Sunday. “We didn’t do that. I think it was a little bit of jitters, maybe.”

Coach Mike Dunleavy wasn’t so sure about that.

“I didn’t think we were nervous,” the coach said. “Maybe he was. I thought he played great in the second half.”

Kaman said the Clippers might have panicked a bit down the stretch, which wouldn’t be a major surprise since he and four teammates who played were making their postseason debuts. The team is in the playoffs for the first time since 1997.

Veteran Sam Cassell believes the opposition deserved some credit.

“People don’t realize, Denver is a physical, good ballclub,” Cassell said. “There’s going to be playoff jitters — it’s how you come out of it. There’s some jitters out there. That’s why I’m on the court.”

The 36-year-old Cassell, a member of NBA championship teams with the Houston Rockets in 1994-95, entered the postseason having appeared in 103 playoff games. His teammates had played in a combined 96 postseason games.

“You can put it behind us,” Cuttino Mobley said of his team’s tough finish. “We have to clean up on offense. We have to get loose balls. They had 19 offensive rebounds. We have to sharpen that up. We will.

“The first game’s nothing. Be happy about the experience you just had. But you dwell on yesterday, you lose tomorrow.”

After the Nuggets scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 87, Vladimir Radmanovic made two free throws with 59.8 seconds left to complete the scoring. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony missed three shots after that, including one from the left corner as time expired.

Game 2 will be played Monday night at Staples Center before the best-of-seven, first-round series moves to Denver for the third and fourth games.

Radmanovic is questionable for Game 2 because of the sprained left wrist he sustained while picking up an offensive foul with 24 seconds left.

“He didn’t do anything today,” Dunleavy said.

The Nuggets shot 38.5 percent in the opener, making the Clippers 27-1 this season in games where they held the opposition under 40 percent.

Even though the Nuggets lost, they spoke of gaining confidence because of the way they finished the game. They trailed 76-60 at one stage before outscoring the Clippers 27-11 before Radmanovic’s game-winning free throws.

“We take the finish as a confidence-boost for us,” Anthony said. “I feel good about our chances the way we finished that game yesterday. I’m pretty sure we’re going to come out and play that way tomorrow.

“I think we did a wonderful job down the stretch. I take my hat off to us.”

Anthony discounted the Clippers’ playoff inexperience.

“Experience and inexperience is overrated,” he said. “It’s all about making plays.”

Nuggets coach George Karl also spoke of the positives he saw late in the game.

“I think we shook them a bit,” he said. “They get a win, hopefully we get some intangible wins. In the last 15 minutes of the game, you can’t play better defense than we played. We just didn’t shoot a good percentage. The one thing we didn’t do well is finish around the basket.”

The Nuggets lost despite committing only seven turnovers and attempting 91 shots to 68 for the Clippers. Los Angeles shot 6-of-16 from 3-point range to Denver’s 1-of-6.

“I think they know we’ll be around every game,” Denver’s Andre Miller said. “We’ve been in this position before. If we come out with a better tempo at the start of the game, we’ll have a better chance.”