| 23 April 2009
(Denver-CO) The old running jab at Denver was you could spell it without the letter “D” because the Nuggets didn’t play any. Well, I’d be willing to bet that anyone who roots for the Hornets doesn’t think that old joke is funny anymore. Last night, the Nuggets put another dominating defensive performance forth and smoked the Hornets out of the Pepsi Center, 108-93.
I’m not even going to talk about the offense before drooling all over Denver’s defensive effort. Simple stated: Dahntay Jones put Chris Paul in a straightjacket. Paul was visibly aggravated out of his game with Dahntay Jones hounding him over every last square inch of the floor last night. And when Dahntay wasn’t blanketing Paul, Anthony Carter was. In fact, the Nuggets collectively as a whole did such a superb job keeping Paul in the one dimensional role as a passer that CP3 only shot the ball eleven times in total. He just wasn’t granted enough room to do anything else BUT pass. The end result of this was the onus of getting NOLA’s offense going was put on other Hornets and they failed miserably. The confused Hornets turned the ball over 17 times of which the Nuggets capitalized 23 points off of.
And boy did I love the individual effort by Dahntay Jones. He was flat out in the jockstrap and the head of Chris Paul. For each and every one of his 20 minutes of burn he didn’t allow Paul to breathe. Paul, blatantly taken out of his game, couldn’t even muster some of his patented flops and flails in an attempt to draw the fouls he usually warrants. The double edged effect that this had on Paul was staggering. He only shot five free-throws (he did make all five) and attempted eleven field goals in 38 minutes of burn of which he finished with 14 points and 13 assists. Or in other words, not even close to enough of an impact to get his team competitive in game two.
Additionally, and with these kinds of defensive efforts, it deserves a special note that the Nuggets have not lost a single quarter to the Hornets through two games of this series.
Denver took control of this game early with an 11-0 run in the second quarter that opened up an otherwise very tightly fought game through the first quarter and a half. Once Denver was leading by twelve, 45-33, they never looked back. In fact, the tightest the Hornets were able to cinch this game was a five-point deficit with 7:39 remaining in the third quarter before Denver hit them with a 16-4 run and thus put NOLA down by 17, 79-62, with under three minutes to play in the third. Denver would then extend their lead to 23 on separate occasions during the fourth quarter before sitting their starters midway through the final quarter and taking a 15-point victory.
Offensively, the Nuggets relied on an old steadfast and some additional help from the usual suspects. Chauncey Billups continues to play out of this world basketball. Mr. Big Shot once again propelled the Nuggets to an easy victory with 31 points, four assists, four rebounds, and not a single turnover for his second consecutive game this post season. In the first two games combined, Billups is +40 +/- overall and has not committed a single turnover while handing out a dozen assists. His All-Star counterpart is -36 +/- overall through two games and despite handing out 24 assists combined from game one and two has committed nine turnovers.
Does anyone believe me now that the advantage at the point belongs to Denver? It’s OK, you can admit it now. Doing so is the first step in recovery as I know you thought I was crazy to write that in my series preview.
Billups also received a lot more help in game two from Carmelo Anthony. After notching just 13 points in game one, ‘Melo finished this game with 22 points, nine assists, three rebounds, two steals, and a block. The nine assists is where ‘Melo really made his greatest impact. With Billups shooting the lights out in the first quarter en route to scoring ten points, Anthony played an auxiliary role offensively by finding his teammates for five dimes in his first eleven minutes. And that’s not to say ‘Melo wasn’t scoring the ball either. He was a very economical 4-6 from the field scoring eight points in the first quarter, but did so with jump shots in rhythm without forcing the issue and while carving up the Hornets’ with crisp short passes.
Carmelo did grow restless offensively in the second quarter as his 1-5 shooting in the period would indicate, but after not adding another assist to his total in the second and scoring just two more points he reverted back to being a facilitator in the third to pile up another three assists while connecting on 4-7 shots bringing his point total through three quarters of play to 19. Carmelo would hit one more three in the fourth before this game was all but in the books in what I believe to be his most mature playoff outing to date. I say this solely because Anthony, aside from forcing things a bit in the second quarter, let the game come to him. When he does this he is has the ability to quietly use all of his basketball skills, at the right moments, to greater assist this team in a comprehensive manner.
And after a quiet night offensively in game one where his contribution was mostly defensive, Kenyon Martin offered a slightly more offensive impact in game two. K-Mart still played tremendous defense on David West by keeping the All-Star forward to just 21 points on 9-20 shooting and just two assists in a game-high 40 minutes of action, but when he adds the stat line of 13 points, six assists, five rebounds, and a block it all but cancels out NOLA’s primary scoring option. Furthermore, when you add up Nene’s eight points and Dahntay Jones’ eleven, the Nuggets starting five outscored the Hornets starters 85-71.
Denver’s two bench players with Big Easy ties both played great game twos. J.R. Smith led all reserves with 15 points and four rebounds. Smith hit 3-5 three-pointers and was 6-11 from the field overall. Chris Andersen, while being shortchanged in the blocks department, provided the most energy off of George Karl’s bench. In a supercharged set of back-to-back possessions, the Bird rejected Antonio Daniels at the rim to start a fast break for Chauncey Billups who took the ball the length of the floor before sliding a behind the back pass, right in front of a sleeping Rasual Butler, to the waiting Nene for an easy deuce. Then, after bothering Daniels on the ensuing penetration, Chauncey Billups pulled up in transition for three of which caromed off the rim at just the right angle for a trailing Bird to swoop in above the canopy of defenders to slam it home and send the Pepsi Center into a complete outbreak of the bird flu. Needless to say, it was sick! The Bird finished game two with the line of six points, five rebounds, and (cough, cough) one blocked shot. Overall, the Nugget bench outscored the NOLA reserves 23-22 in another job well done.
I have nothing else to say about game two. The Nuggets look well in control of this series and I’m looking forward to Saturday morning as much as anyone in the Nuggets Nation.
Go Nuggets! 
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