NBA recap: New Orleans Hornets thrash the Denver Nuggets 96-87
The New Orleans Hornets smashed the Denver Nuggets in a fastidious victory, 96-87 to pull up a nine point lead over the struggling team. The New Orleans hit a highly charged 47.3 per cent from the field and limited their rivals to 40.5 per cent only. They
went 40 per cent in three pointer attempts and the Nuggets were held to 23.8. The Hornets were awesome in their free throw attempts and ran wild enough to gain 95.2 per cent, while the Nuggets were reduced to 66.7.
Stats
Chauncey Billups committed the only technical foul of the game for the Nuggets. The lead changed twice and the game equalized two times, as the clash took place at the famous Pepsi Centre, Denver, CO. More than 16,000 people experienced the game that lasted
for more than two hours on Sunday.
Game stats
Both the teams pulled out interesting game stats. The winning team outrebounded the Nuggets 45-33. The Nuggets took over them in scoring 46-38 points in the paint. The victors took the biggest lead with 19 points and let the Nuggets through with just one
point. The losing team had 10 fast break points whereas the Hornets could only gather four.
Players’ stats
New Orleans Hornets (22-16)
Chris Paul trounced 20 points and gave six assists in a 34 minute game. Deron West pulled out 19 points and gave eight rebounds whereas 12 came from Trevor Ariza. The starters pulled out 67 points for the Hornets while 29 were scored by the players who played
from off the bench.
Denver Nuggets (20-16)
Al Harrington played a pouncing game for the Nuggets. The player scored 20 points from off the bench and grabbed seven rebounds. Billups added 13 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Nuggets. The starters clinched 48 points whereas the team that came
off the bench added 39.
Missing players
The Nuggets were short handed with Kenyon Martin, Chris Paul and Ty Lawson missing. Martin, the 33-year-old power forward was absent due to pain in his recently repaired knee. Rumour has it that Carmelo Anthony might be traded off to the New Jersey Nets.
The 26-year-old shrugged off the idea and said that he doesn’t see it happening in the mean time. He expressed, "Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. I just don't see that happening right now."
Just count the number of times he said, “not at all”.
Turning point
The Denver Nuggets went crushing into the Hornets and cut their 19 point lead off. At that very moment, J.R. Smith was approached by David West who drew a foul as he hit a short jumper against the former player. This endeavour triggered a free throw that
edged a 91-85 lead over the Nuggets. Paul came out with a three pointer to set the game on fire for the Hornets.
Hottest player
One of the hottest players of the game was West, who fetched his sixth straight double-double. This was the 14th time in the previous fifteen games that the player got his hands on a double-double.
Weakest player
Nuggets key players, Billups and Anthony combined to shoot just a meager 5 for 23 from the field. These two Nuggets were helpless against the Hornets who were intent on snatching the lead out of their hands throughout the game.
Coming up next
For the Hornets, Wednesday versus Orlando, Friday at Atlanta, Saturday at Charlotte.
For the Nuggets, Tuesday versus Phoenix, Thursday versus Miami, Saturday versus Cleveland.
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