The Nuggets started slow, but were up 8 at halftime. After that, the Nuggets started pouring it on. This was a big night for Chauncey Billups (36 pts, 8 asts, 2 stls, and a record setting 8 threes) as the Nuggets blew this open. J.R. Smith came off the bench with 19 pts and both Carmelo and Kleiza ended with 13 pts. The Nuggets also got great production from their bench with the aforementioned Kleiza and Smith, but also add Chris Andersen to that list (9pts, 4 blks).
The Hornets looked bad as they lost by 29. It seems that only Chris Paul (21 pts, 11 asts, 5 rebs) decided to show up and play. Tyson Chandler, by his own admission is 75% and he played like it. The rest of the Hornets just couldn't sustain a run to stay close to the Nuggets. Just chalk this one up to a bad game by most and an opportunity to get better.
Key facts:
- What's going on with Carmelo? He seemed rushed at the beginning of the game and had a terrible shooting night. It's almost like he was too geeked up to play.
- David West can't shoot 4 of 16 since he's the only big man of note for the Hornets.
- Dahntay Jones played decent defense, rather physical I might add, on Chris Paul. He seems to play that agitator role very well. He does this against both Paul and Deron Williams.
This is going to turn into a good series. Who do you think wins? What can you glean from the first game?
1 comment:
All I know is that Denver was trying to punk New Orleans last night and it looked like it worked. When I thought about it, Denver played like they were on "work release". Chauncy, 'Melo, and K-Mart have always been tough, but your boy Dhantay Jones was "off the chain". He and the rest of the Nuggets chain gaing clearly got into heads of the Hornets. Don't get me wrong, I came up playing that way, so I don't mind at all the trash talking and hard fouling. I was halfway waiting for someone to get swung on. If New Orleans doesn't get their toughness back, it's a wrap!
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