| 25 March 2009
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(Denver-CO) As the plot thickens in the Western Conference playoff caper, the Denver Nuggets find themselves right in the middle of the scrum. Tonight, the currently fourth seeded Nuggets are in the Big Easy to battle with the fifth seeded Hornets in what could be a playoff preview if things stay as they are right now.
In the first three match-ups between these two teams the Nuggets have been on the short end of the stick twice. In fact, their only win this season over the Hornets came on January 3rd at the Pepsi Center when Tyson Chandler was suspended for one game for an incident where he popped Joel Pryzbilla one for his mother the night before. In that game, Denver had six different players score in double figures including all five original starters and J.R. Smith. Denver won, 105-100.
However, despite J.R. Smith scoring, at the time, a season-high 32 points in the first meeting and Carmelo Anthony being a scratch for the third with a broken hand. I think I can “point” to one area in specifically where the Nuggets lost both of those games:
Point guard play.
In the first defeat at Pepsi Center, Chauncey Billups was outplayed by his All-Star point guard counterpart, Chris Paul. CP3 finished that game with 22 points, ten assists, four rebounds, and three steals in a +21 performance in the +/- department while Chauncey ended up with a meager stat line of 12 points, five assists, and a steal while his +/- was a push.
Advantage - Paul. Win - New Orleans.
In the third meeting, sans Carmelo, Paul once again got the better of Billups with a much more well-rounded game while creating more opportunities for his teammates. Paul posted another double-double of 12 points, ten assists, four steals, and two rebounds in a +5 performance while Chauncey countered with 12 points of his own, but only handed out two assists, snared two rebounds, and recorded just a single steal in a -4 overall +/- outing.
Advantage - Paul. Win - New Orleans.
In tonight’s game, as we’ve seen all season long, not only will Chauncey need to control the tempo of the game by not allowing, or rather limiting, CP3’s impact to sway the game’s momentum too often or for too long, but he will also need to get his teammates involved early and often so the Nuggets can put together another multi-player attack offensively reminiscent to their only win over New Orleans this season.
Overall, CP3 is averaging 21 points, ten assists, and three rebounds this season against Denver while Billups is averaging 12 points, four assists, and two boards against the Hornets.
The only way to disrupt Paul is to first take care of things on the defensive end. To do this against a player as talented as Paul you play on his weakness. The only knock on CP3 at this point in his young career is his streaky outside shooting. Even at just six feet tall, Paul has no fear of taking the ball to the cup and will do so while finishing more times than not and if he doesn’t cap off his penetration by scoring himself he will surely glide through Denver’s interior defense like a katana sword plunged into a bowl of hot oatmeal while finding open teammates for easy buckets. Point being, if Denver does not want Paul to take over the game and push his team to victory the Nuggets need to force him to try and beat them shooting the ball from a decent distance from the rim. This will surely keep his assists total lower than allowing him to dash in and out of the key and hopefully keep the rest of the Hornets from too many easy buckets.
But Paul isn’t the only player the Nuggets have to concern themselves with.
David West has been a tough customer when facing Denver. West is averaging 18 points, eight rebounds, and 2.5 blocks against the Nuggets this season, and has done solid job defending Carmelo Anthony in the two games they have faced each other. And to tell you the truth, watching these two go head-to-head is currently one of my favorite match-ups in the NBA. West brings a more physical game on both ends of the floor and as we know, especially defensively, Carmelo does not like to face a physical defender. It’s finesse vs. ferocity when these two meet and the talent level is as good as any in the league at the small forward position.
In the grand scheme of things this game is not only a potential playoff preview, but a pivotal game for the Nuggets in their divisional situation as well. The Jazz have overtaken the Blazers for second in the Northwest and trail the Nuggets by only a half game headed into tonight. If the Nuggets lose against the Hornets, they lose first place in the division. If they win, they keep Utah in the rearview mirror by a full game and head into Dallas to face the Mavericks of whom they have beaten three times already this season on Friday.
Go Nuggets! 
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