Throughout the series between the Denver Nuggets and New Orleans Hornets, for those who have been paying attention, you may have noticed that the Hornets haven’t made a decent accounting of themselves.  Why that is is up for speculation, but what can be said with certainty is that in all of their losses prior to Monday night’s game, New Orleans lost by an average of  22 points.  This coming from a team that early on in the regular season looked like the team to possibly meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals.  Enter Monday night’s game.

Much like it has been in this series, the Hornets’ shooting was abysmal.  And believe it or not, that was a minor problem; their defense was noticeably absent, as well.  Denver shot almost 57% from the floor as they completely annihilated New Orleans at New Orleans Arena 121-63 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their series.

How ugly was it for the Hornets?  They set a franchise playoff-high with 27 turnovers (yikes!!) along with playoff lows in points scored, field goals made (17), field goals attempted (54), assists (10) and second-half points (24).  New Orleans started out shooting 4-of-15 before a James Posey 3-pointer made it 27-11; meanwhile, Denver shot 70% in the first quarter, taking a 36-36-15 lead on a Dahntay Jones trey.

The onslaught continued into the second quarter as Carmelo Anthony scored at will while Chris Andersen dunked and hit a jumper, elevating the Nuggets’ advantage to 46-22.  New Orleans would go without a field goal for a span of 7:48 in the second period, scoring only on free throws; late in the period, a trey by Linas Kleiza made it 61-37 with the Nuggets going into halftime up by 22.  Denver would not let up in the second half as they outscored New Orleans 58-24, icing the game very early in the third quarter.

Denver’s high scorer was Anthony with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks while Chauncey Billups added 17 with 3 rebounds, 8 assists and a steal; Kleiza from off the bench chipped in 14 (including 3 treys) with 3 rebounds, an assist and a steal.

New Orleans was led by David West with 14 points and 3 rebounds while James Posey added 12 with 7 rebounds and 3 steals; Peja Stojakovic chipped in 10 with 5 rebounds and a steal.  Denver hopes to close out the series on Wednesday when they host New Orleans.