The Denver Nuggets beat the New Orleans Hornets Sunday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The Hornets, who took the lead early in the first quarter, tried to stay with the Nuggets but began lagging by halftime.
By the end of the third, the Bees were behind by 18, and they were never able to catch up.
"Not any good thing to take from a game like this,” said Hornets Head Coach Monty Williams after the game. “The NBA is a cruel league. They try to embarrass you every night, and that's what you saw tonight.”
New Orleans was unable to find a rhythm to their offense, and they were kept to a low 38% field goal rate; only scoring 33 out of 85 attempts. From the Hornets bench, Brain Roberts was the top scorer for the game with 17 points.
"We didn't play well in the third quarter," Hornets guard Greivis Vasquez said. "We had a lot of deflections and I turned the ball over and they turned them into dunks."
The Nuggets’ defense harried the Hornets, forcing 14 turnovers which they converted into 26 points. For the second straight game Vasquez committed six turnovers. Hornets shooters were rejected 12 times.
Going into the game the Nuggets were the league’s leader in overall rebounds and offensive rebounding, though the Hornets kept pace, grabbing 40 rebounds to Denver’s 41. The effort by New Orleans came mostly from the bench, who contributed 15 boards to the total.
The Nuggets shot 53% for the game. Guard Andre Iguodala led Denver with 23 points, shooting 63% and 3-4 from 3-point range.
This loss marked seven straight for New Orleans, and drops them into last place in the Western Conference. Tonight they head west to battle the Los Angeles Clippers (8-5) and former New Orleans All-Star Chris Paul.
On the injury front, Anthony Davis is expected to be out for another two weeks with his injured left ankle. Eric Gordon is still in L.A., and is also expected to return in a few weeks.
